Latest news with #Aussie-Italian-Scottish
Sky News AU
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Jock Zonfrillo's heartbroken widow describes seeing MasterChef star's body for the first time and reveals his devastating final words
Lauren Zonfrillo has shared the heartbreaking final moments she spent with her MasterChef Australia star husband Jock's body and his final words for the first time. Victoria Police found 46-year-old Jock Zonfrillo's body during a welfare check at Zagame's House on Lygon Street in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton on April 30, 2023. Lauren contacted the police with her concerns after her numerous calls to him went unanswered. She immediately flew back home to Australia from Italy with the couple's two young children, Alfie, five, and Isla, three. Lauren spoke to reporter Liz Hayes on Seven News' Spotlight on Sunday where she said she was "scared" to face Jock's body at the morgue, but wanted to see and speak to him. "I was scared of it, but it was just what I needed. It was just a very strange feeling," she said through tears. "Jock was in his pyjamas. I could smell his aftershave. I could smell his hair product. It was just like Jock was sleeping. Lauren said she was "okay" after she touched her husband's hair and then his face and described the moment as her time to "say goodbye to Jock." "He was still there. I really felt he was there. I told him that it will be okay, that I've got this. That I will make sure the kids live big lives. And that, no matter what, we would be a family," she said. Lauren said that she asked Jock to tell her what had happened to him and hoped he would reply. "I asked him what the f*** happened, and I just wanted the words from him. He just looked completely normal to me," she said. "I could not undo what was in front of me. Like, I am broken now. That's it. There's no fixing me. This is the person I love that much, who cannot be there." In a particularly emotional moment, the widow said she discovered Jock's journal which contained his heartfelt thoughts after his death. "He wrote about how happy he was that we were finding our feet… how excited he was about raising these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children," she told Hayes. "He always did the voices when putting the kids to bed… and he wrote about missing those things and how he looked forward to getting to Italy where we were." In one journal entry, Jock described Lauren's hard work and passion, which comforted her. "He wrote…'Lauren didn't see herself, but I think she's just doing so much'," she said her husband wrote. "She's so capable, and I'm really proud she can do those hard things." "That meant a lot to me. It was like this message of encouragement. Like, you've got this, Lauren." It comes after a coroner decided not to publicly release the Scottish-born restaurateur's cause of death, which police did not treat as suspicious, after a 16-month investigation into the tragedy concluded last August. Lauren said she "has an answer" to Jock's cause of death, but "it doesn't make a difference". When asked to disclose what it was, she said she did not want to make that decision for Jock. "A lot of people want to know the answer to that; I'm really aware of that," she said. "I've had a lot of experiences with people coming up to me, all strangers, and asking how Jock died, and it's very unsettling." "Jock was very open in what he was willing to talk about. And I now don't want to make those decisions, because I don't know what he does and doesn't want to talk about." Jock filmed MasterChef Australian season 15, which was scheduled to premiere the day after his death but was postponed to May 7. It was subsequently reported the 46-year-old underwent treatment for bowel cancer after being diagnosed with the disease in 2021. Born Barry Zonfrillo, the late chef left school early to work in restaurants and worked with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White in London at 17. He emigrated to Australia in 2000 to work at Restaurant 41 in Sydney and later settled in Adelaide, where he operated the highly regarded venues Bistro Blackwood and Restaurant Orana from 2013 through 2020. Despite their critical success, both Jock's Adelaide establishments collapsed in 2020 with substantial unpaid debts of about $3.2 million. A third Adelaide restaurant, Nonna Mallozzi, closed months after it opened and posted losses that exceeded $140,000 in its brief operation. Jock lost his family home in the Adelaide Hills after the closure of Orana and Bistro Blackwood. The chef achieved new success when he joined MasterChef Australia in 2020 as a judge alongside food critic Melissa Leong and chef Andy Allen after the original judges George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston were sacked.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jock Zonfrillo's final heartbreaking words revealed: Widow Lauren shares MasterChef star's haunting last journal entry that left her 'broken'
Nearly two years after MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo 's shock death, his widow Lauren Zonfrillo has shared the emotional contents of his final journal entry. Lauren opened up for the first time about the moment she learned the Scottish-born chef, 46, had died alone in a Melbourne hotel room on April 30, 2023. The celebrity cook, who rose to national fame alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen on MasterChef, passed away during the promo tour for the show's new season. His cause of death has never been made public. In a raw and tearful interview on Spotlight with Seven's Liz Hayes, Lauren revealed the harrowing moment police contacted her in Italy – where she had recently moved with their two children, Alfie and Isla – and delivered the devastating news. 'I was hysterical,' Lauren recalled, her voice trembling. After trying and failing to reach Jock, she called his hotel and requested a welfare check. When police phoned back to inform her that a 'deceased male' had been located in his room, her world shattered. Flying home to Australia, Lauren later viewed Jock's body, describing the surreal moment where it felt like he was still with her. 'He was still there. I could smell his aftershave and hair product. It looked like he was just sleeping,' she said through tears. 'I told him that it'll be okay, that I've got this. That I will make sure the kids live big lives. And that, no matter what, we would be a family.' But perhaps the most emotional revelation came from a journal Lauren discovered after Jock's passing – a heartfelt collection of thoughts he had written in the lead-up to his death. In one entry, Jock reflected on his deep love for his young family. 'He wrote about how happy he was that we were finding our feet… how excited he was about raising these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children,' Lauren shared. 'He always did the voices when putting the kids to bed… and he wrote about missing those things, and how he looked forward to getting to Italy where we were.' One passage in particular continues to comfort Lauren. 'He wrote… "Lauren didn't see herself, but I think she's just doing so much. She's so capable and I'm really proud she can do those hard things,"' she revealed. 'That meant a lot to me. It was like this message of encouragement. Like, you've got this, Lauren.' Lauren admitted she often questioned how she would go on without him. 'I do feel broken now. I lost the person I love that much.' Since his death, there has been speculation surrounding what caused the chef's sudden passing, with some pointing to Zonfrillo's past struggles with addiction and reports he may have been privately battling bowel cancer. But Lauren pushed back on the narrative that his 'demons' had returned. She did not disclose a cause of death but confirmed she was told by those who found him that he appeared to have died peacefully in bed. At the time of his passing, Jock's family released a heartbreaking statement, writing: 'With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away… So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we're too overwhelmed to put them into words.' Jock Zonfrillo is survived by Lauren and their two children, who continue to carry forward his legacy – with Lauren vowing to raise them in the same spirit of love and adventure their father cherished so deeply. 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 was among the pallbearers and delivered a eulogy before Zonfrillo's friend and fellow Scotsman, Jimmy Barnes, sang Amazing Grace with his daughter Mahalia. Zonfrillo wrote in his 2021 memoir Last Shot about battling a heroin addiction from his teenage years working as a chef in Glasgow. After moving to north-west England he sold cocaine and other drugs to supplement his wages, was eventually sacked and at 17 made his way to London. Zonfrillo wrote that he turned up at Marco Pierre White's renowned restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel in 1994 and the famed chef became a mentor who would shape his life. He moved to Australia aged 20 in 1996 and got a job at Forty One restaurant in Sydney where he was using cocaine, pills, LSD and cannabis. According to his book, Zonfrillo kept a raging heroin habit hidden from everyone before going back to the UK in 1997 when his visa ran out. He wrote of taking his last hit of heroin in the toilets at Heathrow airport before returning to Australia in early 2000. Zonfrillo opened his own restaurants, Orana and Bistro Blackwood, in Adelaide in 2013. He added a third, Nonna Mallozzi, in 2018. The latter lasted six months, Bistro Blackwood closed in late 2019 and Orana in March 2020. 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.
Metro
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
MasterChef star Jock Zonfrillo's widow reveals his heartbreaking journal entry
The widow of MasterChef star Jock Zonfrillo has revealed the details about his final journal entry before his shock death. The Scottish chef was best known as one of the judges on MasterChef Australia, which he joined in 2019 alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen. But in May 2023 it was announced that Zonfrillo had died aged 46 during the promo tour for the show. He was found dead in a hotel room in Melbourne, with his cause of death never being revealed. At the time his family released a statement that read: 'With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away yesterday.' They added: 'So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we're too overwhelmed to put them into words.' Two years on his wife Lauren, whom he married in 2017 and shared two young children with, has given her first TV interview speaking about Zonfrillo's death. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video When Zonfrillo died, Lauren was in Italy with their children, where they'd relocated not long before. Speaking to Liz Hayes in a special edition of Seven News' Spotlight series, she revealed how her husband's final words were about 'how happy' he was to have created their young family – son Alfie and daughter Isla. In the interview, Lauren shared how she discovered Jock's journal following his death. 'Jock had journalled for a period of time,' she explained. 'He wrote in his journal how he's so happy that we were finding our feet, and he was excited about creating these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children…and what Isla's accent was going to be like when she starts talking full sentences. 'He always liked to put the kids to bed at night, he did all the voices with the books and so he just wrote about missing those thing and how he looked forward to getting there (to Italy where the kids were).' She went on: 'He wrote… 'Lauren didn't see herself, but I think she's just doing so much, but she's so capable and I'm really proud that she can do those hard things as well', and that's meant a lot to me now.' Lauren explained how it 'meant a lot' to her reading about 'such a normal conversation. 'It was kind of this encouragement to say, you've got this Lauren, there's been many times where I've (felt like) I haven't got this,' she added. Lauren also spoke about the devastating lead-up to discovering her husband had died. After struggling to get in contact with him she asked hotel staff to conduct a welfare check. 'I was now hysterical,' she recalled. After police were called, Lauren was contacted and told a 'deceased male' had been found in her husband's room. Once arriving back in Australia and viewing her husband's body, Lauren said she begged him for answers to 'so many unanswered questions'. In tears while speaking about this moment, Lauren said she could smell his 'aftershave and hair product' and it looked like he was 'just sleeping'. 'He was still there. I really felt he was there. I told him that it will be okay, that I've got this. That I will make sure the kids live big lives. And that, no matter what, we would be a family,' she said. However, she also battled with feelings of being 'broken now' following the death of 'the person I love that much'. More Trending Although there was significant speculation about Zonfrillo's death – he had previously spoken publicly about past battles with drug addiction while some reports suggested he'd been diagnosed with bowel cancer – Lauren refused the proposition his 'demons caught up with him'. She didn't go into further detail about how he died but relayed how she'd been told by those who found him that it appeared he'd died peacefully in his bed. View More » Zonfrillo is also survived by his two adult daughters Ava and Sophia from his first two marriages. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Spend your May bank holiday weekend bingeing 'best Australian drama in a decade' MORE: Ant Middleton kicked off TV show months after selling home 'due to £1,200,000 debts' MORE: 'Watching this Hollywood actor play my love rat ex sent shivers down my spine'
West Australian
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Lauren Zonfrillo reveals Jock Zonfrillo's final words he wrote in journal
Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of former MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo, has revealed her husband's final words were about 'how happy' he was to create their young family. The 46-year-old Scottish chef was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in April 2023. His cause of death has never been revealed. In an exclusive interview with 7NEWS Spotlight to air on Sunday, Lauren speaks about discovering Jock's journal and reading his final words. 'Jock had journalled for a period of time,' she told Seven's Liz Hayes. 'It meant a lot to me reading . . . (about) such a normal conversation, but I got his version. 'It was kind of this encouragement to say, you've got this Lauren, there's been many times where I've (felt like) I haven't got this.' Lauren — who was in Italy at the time of Jock's death — reportedly asked police to conduct a welfare check after failing to contact him. The couple had relocated to Rome with their young children, Alfie and Isla, with Jock travelling back to Australia to film MasterChef. 'He wrote in his journal how he's so happy that we were finding our feet and he was excited about creating these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children . . . and what Isla's accent was going to be like when she starts talking full sentences,' Lauren said. 'He always liked to put the kids to bed at night, he did all the voices with the books and so he just wrote about missing those thing and how he looked forward to getting there (to Italy where the kids were),' she said. 'He wrote . . . 'Lauren didn't see herself, but I think she's just doing so much, but she's so capable and I'm really proud that she can do those hard things as well', and that's meant a lot to me now.' Fellow MasterChef judge and friend Andy Allen said he could feel 'hairs standing up' reflecting on the last time they were together. The paid dined together the day before Jock's passing. 'I still remember that call I got from Lauren in the early hours of that morning and saying that Jock had passed ... grief hit me straight away,' Allen told Spotlight. 'As soon as I got off the phone, I ran straight to the bathroom and I vomited everywhere. 'It hit me then and there straight away.' Jock and Me airs on Sunday at 8pm on Seven and 7Plus
7NEWS
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Lauren Zonfrillo reveals Jock Zonfrillo's final words he wrote in journal
Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of former MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo, has revealed her husband's final words were about 'how happy' he was to create their young family. The 46-year-old Scottish chef was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in April 2023. His cause of death has never been revealed. In an exclusive interview with 7NEWS Spotlight to air on Sunday, Lauren speaks about discovering Jock's journal and reading his final words. 'Jock had journalled for a period of time,' she told Seven's Liz Hayes. 'It meant a lot to me reading . . . (about) such a normal conversation, but I got his version. 'It was kind of this encouragement to say, you've got this Lauren, there's been many times where I've (felt like) I haven't got this.' Lauren — who was in Italy at the time of Jock's death — reportedly asked police to conduct a welfare check after failing to contact him. The couple had relocated to Rome with their young children, Alfie and Isla, with Jock travelling back to Australia to film MasterChef. 'He wrote in his journal how he's so happy that we were finding our feet and he was excited about creating these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children . . . and what Isla's accent was going to be like when she starts talking full sentences,' Lauren said. 'He always liked to put the kids to bed at night, he did all the voices with the books and so he just wrote about missing those thing and how he looked forward to getting there (to Italy where the kids were),' she said. 'He wrote . . . 'Lauren didn't see herself, but I think she's just doing so much, but she's so capable and I'm really proud that she can do those hard things as well', and that's meant a lot to me now.' Fellow MasterChef judge and friend Andy Allen said he could feel 'hairs standing up' reflecting on the last time they were together. The paid dined together the day before Jock's passing. 'I still remember that call I got from Lauren in the early hours of that morning and saying that Jock had passed ... grief hit me straight away,' Allen told Spotlight. 'As soon as I got off the phone, I ran straight to the bathroom and I vomited everywhere. 'It hit me then and there straight away.'
