Here’s what the I’m A Celebrity star Ruby Wax was like as a student at Oxford University

Ruby Wax surprised her I’m A Celebrity campmates when she randomly dropped that she has a degree from the University of Oxford. If you were also pretty surprised at this, then here’s a closer look at what Ruby Wax actually studied, and what her Oxford Uni life was like.

Yes, she really does have a Master’s from the University of Oxford

12 years before signing up for I’m A Celebrity, Ruby got her Master’s in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. Kellogg is only for postgrads, and many students there are older adults who also have jobs. She studied part-time over two years. Ruby’s own experiences with depression led to her interest in neuroscience.

Ruby by the Radcliffe Camera
(Image via @RubyWaxOfficial / YouTube)

She explained in an i Paper article: “I hunted down one of the founders of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a professor at Oxford University, and grilled him about what happens in the brain when you practice this thing called mindfulness. He said he couldn’t just tell me on a street corner, but that I could learn by applying to Oxford and getting my Master’s degree. I did just that – got my Master’s at Oxford and no one was more surprised than him.”

Students on this course could submit some kind of practical work for assessment along with their thesis. Ruby developed a show called Sane New World, which incorporated the therapy techniques she learned about on the course. She later performed a “hybrid confessional-standup-lecture” called Sane New World in London in 2015.

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Ruby Wax at her graduation from the University of Oxford
(Image via @RubyWaxOfficial / YouTube)

Ruby graduated in September 2013. She told the Oxford Mail: “Outside of having kids, this was the most exciting day of my life ever and it won’t be topped… I never thought in my life I would be graduating with a degree from Oxford University. It means more than anything.”

She was a regular at pubs in Oxford

According to the Oxford Mail, Ruby Wax’s fav spots in Oxford were the King’s Arms near the Bodleian, Chiang Mai Kitchen off Oxford High Street, and the (now closed) Starbucks on Banbury Road. All classic student spots.

Erm, Ruby Wax did not seem to get on with all her course mates

She joked on I’m A Celeb that lots of the other students were judgey of her being there. I can confirm that there are plenty of people looking judgey in the background of this chaotic vlog she made about her graduation.

At a fancy dinner in the video she says: “I just wanted to show you everybody in their bat costume. They’re not all tw*ts at all!” After weaving through the grumpy-looking Oxford alumni and professors, she adds, “I have nothing in common with any of these people.”

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Featured image of Ruby Wax via @RubyWaxOfficial / YouTube.