Heston Blumenthal: My Bipolar Diagnosis, Being Sectioned and Embracing Neurodiversity (E327)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.8 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 10 February 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Heston Blumenthal is a world-renowned chef, innovator, and the creative force behind The Fat Duck, one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. Known for his imaginative approach to food, Heston is also an artist who views cooking as an opportunity to tell stories and spark emotions.
In this episode, Jake sits down with Heston to explore the intersection of mental health and creativity. Heston opens up about his experiences being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and ADHD, revealing how these conditions have impacted his body, mind, and creative process over the years. He reflects on whether his neurodivergence plays a massive role in his obsessive passion for perfecting every element of his creations.
Heston also dives into his creative process, offering a rare glimpse into how he crafts his signature dishes. Together with Jake, they discuss the importance of fostering deeper conversations about Bipolar Disorder within society and the lessons we can all learn about embracing our unique challenges.
This episode offers an honest look at creativity, mental health, and what it means to stay inspired as an artist.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We're proud to introduce Untapped, a brand new podcast by High Performance, hosted by Spencer Matthews and Jake Quickenden. |
| 0:06.6 | Listen now and discover your untapped potential. |
| 0:11.1 | For the first 10 years, the Fat Duck, I was working 120 hours a week, just sleeping about 20 hours a week. |
| 0:18.2 | I don't know how I did it. |
| 0:19.7 | I had a couple of policemen turned up to the |
| 0:21.2 | house, five farmmen, a doctor and assistant. They basically injected me. They woke up in a |
| 0:26.4 | psychiatric hospital. There's nothing like imagination when it comes off. There's that feeling. |
| 0:32.7 | It was just like that little bliss moment with a massive smile that has achieved something. |
| 0:38.3 | What an honour. What an honour. Welcome to High Performance, |
| 0:41.4 | one of the most innovative and groundbreaking chefs of our time, Heston Blumenthal. |
| 0:45.9 | You know, I had a real sense that I was sitting in the presence of true genius during this conversation. |
| 0:50.7 | I mean, I normally get that with you anyway, Damien. |
| 0:53.2 | But you couldn't join us |
| 0:54.5 | for this one. Heston's diary was far too busy and I couldn't make it down for it. But what was it like? |
| 0:59.3 | Mate, honestly, it was incredible. Heston, we know he revolutionized the food industry, the way that |
| 1:04.9 | we think about food. He created the fat dark. His three Michelin-star restaurants once voted the best |
| 1:10.7 | restaurant in the |
| 1:11.5 | world. But this is about the cost of that great success. So we get into why and how he was |
| 1:18.4 | sectioned a year ago. We're talking in great detail about his ADHD diagnosis and the fact that |
| 1:24.0 | he now understands that he's bipolar. Yet interesting, Damien, he also explains to us that those things are the very reason for his creativity. |
| 1:32.6 | And at one point in the conversation, I ask him whether he wishes that he'd never had those. |
| 1:37.6 | And the answer is fascinating. |
... |
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