Jock Zonfrillo's wife Lauren reveals the very difficult decision she faced following her husband's death: 'I didn't tell anyone'

Daily Mail​

24-04-2025

Lauren Zonfrillo the wife of the late celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo has opened up about a crucial decision she made in the wake of her hsband's untimely passing in May, 2023.
MasterChef judge Jock was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room after police were called to conduct a welfare check on the 46-year-old.
And in a break with tradition, Lauren decided she wanted to be a pallbearer at her husband's funeral.
'I didn't tell anyone I was going to do it until the last minute,' she told the Australian Financial Review in a new interview on Thursday.
'I wasn't sure what people would think and I wasn't asking for any feedback.'
Explaining that she felt that it was her responsibility to put Jock to rest she continued: 'Everyone is here to support us, but it is my job. It felt right that I would carry my husband to his place of peace.
'And he would have been carrying me,' she added.
'I was really proud I was able to do that. I think it says a lot to the kids, for them to understand our love for each other.'
Jock left behind Lauren and their two young children, five-year-old Alfie and three-year-old Isla, as well as daughters Ava and Sofia from previous marriages.
At the time of Zonfrillo's death, Lauren had been in Italy and reportedly became concerned when her husband failed to keep to their usual daily schedule of telephone calls.
A senior Victoria Police source told Daily Mail Australia that officers who attended Zagame's House in Carlton found Zonfrillo dead in his bed and saw no obvious signs of anything suspicious or unusual.
There was no drug paraphernalia located, no one else in his room and police at the scene formed the initial view Zonfrillo had died of natural causes.
Lauren has never publicly discussed Zonfrillo's cause of death and a spokeswoman for Victoria's Coroners Court told Daily Mail Australia in February that the August 2024 findings of an investigation would not be published.
It is unclear if Lauren will reveal what she knows of what happened the night her husband died in her upcoming book Till Death Do Us Part, which hits shelves on May 6.
A fortnight after Zonfrillo's death his wife led about 200 mourners who gathered for a funeral at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium at North Ryde on May 13.
Among those who attended the service were celebrity chefs George Calombaris, Matt Moran, Colin Fassnidge, Manu Feildel and Shannon Bennett as well as Zonfrillo's co-stars Allen and Melissa Leong.
Lauren delivered a eulogy before Zonfrillo's friend and fellow Scotsman, Jimmy Barnes, sang Amazing Grace with his daughter Mahalia.
Before his death, Zonfrillo had been preparing for the launch of MasterChef's 15th season, which was set to premiere the night his body was found.
He was also in the early stages of planning a new restaurant and had started working on a cookbook prior to his death.
Zonfrillo and his wife, who married in 2017, had put their four-bedroom Carlton terrace up for rent ahead of a potential permanent move to Italy, where his father was born.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed Zonfrillo had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in mid 2021, after recovering from an earlier bout with the disease.
It is not suggested the cancer killed Zonfrillo, only that he had told friends its return was detected after a routine colonoscopy.
A source said Zonfrillo kept his health problems from most friends and colleagues, receiving treatment including chemotherapy when MasterChef was not filming.
Zonfrillo joined the MasterChef Australia judging panel in 2020 with food critic Leong and restaurateur Allen after original judges Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston left.
Daily Mail Australia's Inside Mail revealed this week Liz Hayes would interview Lauren in her first assignment for Seven's Spotlight program after leaving Nine's 60 Minutes.