{"id":386994,"date":"2026-01-04T05:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386994\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T05:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T05:08:11","slug":"jamie-laing-if-i-played-roger-federer-at-tennis-id-win-a-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386994\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Laing: ‘If I played Roger Federer at tennis, I’d win a game’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0loved\u00a0very hard\u00a0as a teenager.\u00a0So\u00a0I would\u00a0tell my younger self not to be so intense. What you\u2019re feeling,\u00a0you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0need to put on the other person. I was so deeply in love at 16 and\u00a0I wanted the other person to be so in love\u00a0too.\u00a0I\u00a0needed\u00a0them to match my emotions. But less is more.\u00a0I wanted to get married\u00a0but\u00a0she\u00a0ultimately broke\u00a0up with me because it was\u00a0all\u00a0too intense. I was heartbroken. I remember trying to find the knife because the wound hurt so much. I was like,\u00a0where is this pain coming from?\u00a0I was\u00a0so\u00a0heartbroken\u00a0at 16,\u00a0I\u00a0thought I\u00a0was never\u00a0gonna\u00a0find anyone. I thought my life was over.\u00a0I wish I could\u00a0tell\u00a0my\u00a0younger\u00a0self\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0all going to be OK.\u00a0I think the best advice\u00a0is, if you find someone you love and they love you back and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0a kind person, stick with them. If you can see yourself having 10,000 dinners with that person,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0the right person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In terms of privilege, it was one million per cent there. But in terms of being handed actual cash by my family, that didn\u2019t happen. What I had was the safety net and privilege of growing up in a family that didn\u2019t have to worry about food<\/a>. We went on nice holidays, I went to a private school. But I also had the pressure of wanting to try to afford that for myself. As you get older, you realise how expensive everything is. The fact I went into confectionery [his great, great grandfather made a fortune inventing the digestive biscuit for McVities] was just a coincidence. But that entrepreneurial spirit I got from my dad and my grandfather, that\u2019s what I inherited.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jamie Laing playing rugby in his younger years<\/p>\n

I really suffered with anxiety without knowing what anxiety was. And I suffered with insecurity without talking about it. So my book [Boys Don\u2019t Cry] is like a message to my younger self and all younger people. It\u2019s about being open and honest and vulnerable and seeking help. Because I was not open and vulnerable ever. I hid it the whole time. Then you live in silent torture. I just wish I\u2019d known about that great saying, \u2018this too shall pass\u2019. Because when we\u2019re in that headspace, we don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to get\u00a0through it and that leads to\u00a0awful things. When I was young, I thought it was going to be like that forever. And to be in a place where you think this is for eternity is not fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was obsessed with popularity as a kid. I had two older sisters who had posters of\u00a0Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt on their walls and I remember thinking, if I became famous, I\u00a0would be popular and maybe my poster would be on people\u2019s walls. The idea that being famous would be fun, which led me to doing a reality show, came from wanting to be popular. \u00a0<\/p>\n

When I was offered Made\u00a0in\u00a0Chelsea, I also had a\u00a0job offer on the table. I remember going to bed that night and knowing my future with the job opportunity. I knew\u00a0where I\u2019d end up, what I would be doing next week and every week after that. I thought, this cannot be life. So I took Made in Chelsea because I didn\u2019t know what would happen. It was such a risk. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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I drank a lot and would have done that and lost my 20s anyway. But the fact I had a job on Made in Chelsea that allowed me and almost encouraged me to do that was quite useful. My 20s was all about figuring out who I was. I had a lot of fun when I was younger and I don\u2019t regret any of it. Have fun and be cheeky, just go for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Be kind, be useful and say yes to things. I realised people love working around people who are excited to be there. They love it, right? So, if you are grateful, useful, upbeat and happy to be there \u2013\u202fwhich I was anyway \u2013\u202fthings will go your way. It meant I networked hard without realising it, because I loved making friends and meeting people. And every opportunity I had, I would talk to a director or cameraman or runner or producer. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If I could say to my 16-year-old self that you end up as your own boss, he would be over the moon. Are you kidding me? I can\u2019t even put into words how grateful I am because I truly think I would be in a disastrous place otherwise. My two dreams as a kid were to have a world made of sweets and host my own chat show. So I set up my company Candy Kittens, and with my podcast, Great Company, I\u2019m kind of living my chat show dream. I used to put teddy bears in a row and pretend I was the host. I loved Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton, then by the time I did Made in Chelsea, I was saying I wanted to be the next Jimmy Fallon. Everyone used to laugh at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m about to have a kid [his son, Ziggy, was born in early December]. I have businesses to run. The responsibility I have now is mad. So part of me wants to tell my younger self, you are free. You can do anything. And I was lucky \u2013 I know some people have huge responsibilities at 16 or 17. But I didn\u2019t have, so I wish I could say, just enjoy being free.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mind people seeing my life. Perhaps when I have a kid that will change, but I filmed everything as a kid. I was always happy to show everything, so I was already ready for the social media age. I never worried what people thought of me, I never had an ego or cared about being embarrassed. And if you are like that, you\u2019re going to be quite good at reality TV and letting the public into your life. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jamie Laing in 2013 with the Made in Chelsea cast. Image: PA Images \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Doing Strictly Come Dancing taught me resilience. You are basically given a new language every week, a new dance, and start off knowing nothing. So on Monday and Tuesday, you think, I\u2019m never going to get it. On Wednesday, you think this is never going to happen. But by Thursday you realise, maybe something is here. It shows that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything. It\u2019s easy sitting on your arse and not trying something. But if you pick the harder option, you can do it, and\u00a0it feels great.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m\u00a0incredibly entrepreneurial \u2013 which is\u00a0a good job\u00a0because\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0almost unemployable.\u00a0So\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0say to my younger self,\u00a0be patient. I was\u00a0so\u00a0worried about\u00a0future.\u00a0Like\u00a0a lot of young kids,\u00a0this question of\u00a0how I\u00a0was\u00a0going to earn money\u00a0was always on my mind.\u00a0So\u00a0one thing\u00a0I would whisper in\u00a0his\u00a0ear is that you can do it yourself if you want.\u00a0I would tell him,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0worry, you\u00a0will\u00a0land on your feet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always had this weird blind confidence when it comes to sport. I think if I played Roger Federer<\/a> in a tennis match, I\u2019d probably win a game off him. That\u2019s generally how I think. So when it came to the run [in March, Jamie Laing ran five ultra marathons in five days for Comic Relief<\/a>, raising \u00a32 million], I had that same attitude. I\u2019ve done cross country, I could run when I was a kid, so I can definitely do it. That blind confidence was incredibly useful. But it was also extremely naive, because the pain was unbearable. But I learned pain is\u00a0temporary and resilience is\u00a0everything. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jamie Laing with his wife Sophie. Image: PA Images \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

My run also made me fall back in love with the world. When you look at the news or at\u00a0politics, you think the world\u2019s a bit shit. But the number of people that sent me messages or saw me on the street and hugged me made me realise I had probably disconnected a lot from the world because of social media. Don\u2019t just sit online, don\u2019t just FaceTime, go and connect in real life. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I would love one last conversation with my grandfather. He was called Robin, my dad\u2019s dad. He lived abroad, was probably a spy, and\u00a0did all these amazing things. I wish I knew what I know\u00a0now so I could have had a\u00a0proper conversation with him. One of my big things is speak to your parents, ask questions, find out everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I could relive one day\u2026 there are\u00a0two, actually.\u00a0When\u00a0I played my first rugby match for the first team at school and scored a try, that was an amazing day.\u00a0And when I was traveling in South America when I was 19\u00a0\u2013 I sat looking out over\u00a0Iguaza\u00a0Falls,\u00a0between\u00a0Brazil and Argentina.\u00a0I was\u00a0looking around, realising that God existed\u00a0because the world looked so beautiful. I was surrounded by friends and had just accepted a place at Leeds\u00a0university\u00a0so the future was set, my past and school\u00a0was\u00a0behind me, and in the present, I was in this beautiful limbo of freedom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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