Ricky Gervais has lashed out at mega-rich celebrities complaining about Coronavirus lockdown from their multimillion-dollar mansions while health workers are risking their lives during the global crisis.
Speaking with The Sun from his home, the 58-year-old British actor and comedian expressed his frustration, “After this is over, I never want to hear people moaning about the welfare state again. I never want to hear people moaning about nurses again. Or porters.”
He added, “These people are doing 14-hour shifts and not complaining. Wearing masks, and being left with sores, after risking their own health and their families’ health selflessly.”
On his own quarantining experience so far, he said, “I didn’t go out much anyway” before the pandemic. “There’s always too much booze in the house. It’s always been the 6 p.m. watershed for as long as I remember,” he continued. “Obviously, I am looking at the watch.”
Ricky also revealed that “all the women” in his family were carers when he was a child.
He reflected on his upbringing, saying, “I was born in the beginning of the Sixties in Battle Hospital in Reading. And that should have been an omen. Having gone by the title, I should have known life was going to be a struggle. And it was – I was the fourth child of an immigrant labourer. My dad worked on building sites all his life, until he was 70. He got up every day at 5.30am.”
He continued, “Men worked hard, but women worked miracles. Because when my dad finished his work that was his own time. But my mum didn’t stop working, women didn’t stop working. Carers didn’t stop working, all the women in my family were carers in some respect.”
Reflecting on his upbringing, he shared, “I had no money growing up, I didn’t have any until I was 40. But I still had everything. My mum, she gardened, she grew, she cooked, she sewed, she knitted, she decorated, she did everything she could. And she gave me everything I wanted except money.”
He emphasized the value of free things in life, “I also realized growing up that all the best things were free – friends, nature, learning and healthcare. And that’s why I gladly pay my taxes. And that’s why I clap the NHS.”