Latest news with #JockZonfrillo
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
MasterChef star Andy Allen six-word message to Jock Zonfrillo's widow Lauren after she speaks about his death for the first time in TV interview
MasterChef Australia star Andy Allen has praised Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of his late co-star Jock. Jock, who was found dead aged 46 in a Melbourne hotel room in 2023, co-judged alongside Andy on hit cooking show MasterChef Australia from 2020 up until his death. Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Andy, 37, shared a photo that showed him holding a copy of Lauren's recently released book Till Death Do Us Part, in which she candidly opens up about life after Jock. Andy praised Lauren's candid account, offering a simple six word review. 'In awe of you @laurenzonfrillo,' Andy wrote, while urging his 385,000 followers to pick up a copy of the memoir. It comes after Andy recently opened up about his final meeting with Jock, revealing he saw the late celebrity chef just a couple of hours before he died. In a sit-down interview with 7NEWS Spotlight earlier this month, Andy, 37, recalled how he met Jock for lunch the day before his body was discovered. 'I've got hairs standing up already,' he told Liz Hayes as he looked back on his and Jock's final meal together, a moment he reflects back on a lot. Andy went on to reveal he had no idea that there was anything amiss during his last meeting with the celebrity chef. 'That's the thing that hurts the most,' he told Liz with tears in his eyes, '(be)cause it was so sudden.' Elsewhere in the heartbreaking interview, Andy recounted the moment he was given the news of Jock's passing by Lauren. The chef admitted the grief of losing his close friend hit him 'straight away', a feeling that made him instantly ill. 'As soon as I got off the phone, I ran straight to the bathroom and I vomited everywhere,' he said. Andy also shared how he still grieves his friend daily. 'I always think of him. And I miss him, I miss him so much. It's crazy that that never goes' he said. 'That being reminded of him wherever I go and no matter what I do, it is still as strong as the day that he passed two years ago.' Andy's raw on-screen moment comes after he shared a heartfelt tribute to his late co-star on the second anniversary of his death. He also recently shared a throwback photo to social media of he and Jock together and captioned it with some bittersweet words. 'Two years since we lost the great man, Jock Zonfrillo. I miss him more than ever,' Andy wrote. Last year, Andy told how it was 'really difficult' grieving in the public eye. 'It was the hardest time of my life, I had never had tragedy like that hit me so close, it was very uncharted waters and multiply that by it being in the public eye; it was really difficult,' he told the Herald Sun. Andy detailed his heavy emotional toll and told how he spent a 'full day crying' after travelling to Sicily to mark Jock's birthday. 'I spent a full day just crying, in a couple of hour increments, just having a good old cry, then I would be quiet... then I would go again,' he shared. Jock was found dead at the Zagame's House hotel in Carlton, near Melbourne's CBD, at around 2am on May 1, 2023. At the time, his wife Lauren was in Italy with their two children and had phoned Victoria Police to request a welfare check because he stopped answering her calls. Jock's death came just one day before the 2023 season of MasterChef was due to premiere, and it was delayed in arriving on air for a week 'out of respect'.
Herald Sun
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Herald Sun
Jock Zonfrillo's widow to speak publicly for the first time since husband's death
Lauren Zonfrillo will speak about her husband's death publicly for the first time in a television interview. Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo, 46, was found dead by police conducting a welfare check in a Carlton hotel room near Melbourne on April 30, 2023. While Ms Zonfrillo has never spoken publicly about her husband's death, she released a book about grief last year. Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of Australia MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo, wrote a book about grief following the death of her husband. Picture: Instagram The television interview will be done by journalist Liz Hayes for 7NEWS Spotlight as a guest correspondent. The special is set to air on Spotlight in the coming weeks. The book Till Death Do us Part was written to help others find comfort through their own pain and suffering. TV veteran Liz Hayes will interview Lauren Zonfrillo, who will speak publicly for the first time about her husband's death on Spotlight in the coming weeks. Picture: Supplied In a video posted to social media about the book, Ms Zonfrillo explained how she experienced grief amnesia following her husband's death, which was a physical response to the trauma she felt that impacted her memory, mind and body. 'I tried as many roads away from the impact zone as I could, and I tried them as quickly as possible,' she said. 'I had our three and five year olds that needed normal levels of parenting, which at that age is quite a lot, but they also needed extra care and nurturing as they learned to live with grief in their life.' Originally published as Lauren Zonfrillo, the widow of celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo, to speak publicly for the first time since husband's death
AU Financial Review
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
Lauren Zonfrillo could write the book on grief. So she has
The waiters at Fratelli Paradiso in Sydney's Potts Point know Lauren Zonfrillo by name. 'I handwrote my journals here,' she says. 'Paradiso is where I would come, by myself, when I needed a break.' It was also the site of her first date with her late husband, Jock Zonfrillo. The journals she wrote, in the depths of grief after his sudden death at age 46 on May 1, 2023, formed the basis of her book, Til Death Do Us Part, to be released on May 6. The book is part-memoir, about, as Lauren puts it 'the first day of the rest of our lives' and part-instruction manual for grief; the kind she wishes she had access to when her life imploded that day nearly two years ago.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Major update in MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo's death: 'Secret'
It's been almost two years since the shock passing of MasterChef judge and celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo at age 46. The father-of-four was found dead at 2am in Melbourne on May 1, 2023 - the same day season 15 of MasterChef was set to premiere - after police received a call requesting a 'welfare check'. While Jock's cause of death wasn't confirmed at the time, an investigation was conducted behind closed doors over 16 months and wrapped up on August 27 last year. However, a coroner has now decided not to publicly reveal what happened on the night of his death. 'At the close of the investigation, the coroner determined that the finding would not be published,' a spokeswoman for Victoria's Coroners Court told Daily Mail. RELATED: MasterChef fans confused after Andy Allen's touching tribute to Jock Zonfrillo MasterChef's Andy Allen wasn't sure he'd return to show after Jock: 'Felt so wrong' Jock Zonfrillo's widow honours their wedding anniversary in heartbreaking post The publication also wrote that Jock's cause of death will 'likely remain secret' unless his family chooses to disclose the coroner's findings. Jock is survived by his wife Lauren and their two young children, six-year-old Alfie and four-year-old Isla, as well as his daughters Ava and Sofia from his previous marriages. The update comes just a few weeks after Lauren Zonfrillo announced her upcoming book Till Death Do Us Part, which she describes as her 'lived experience through traumatic loss'. The memoir, subtitled 'Life without Jock and learning to live with intention', is set to be published on May 6. 'I am no psychologist - I am not even a writer. But I have written a book, Till Death Do Us Part,' she wrote on Instagram alongside the announcement. 'This is a book of my lived experience through traumatic loss, the kind of support that I was reaching out for in the shadows of grief, and being homesick for a life that didn't exist anymore. 'And for those going through loss, I am writing this book so that your hands can land on it when you are reaching out in the darkness for something, anything, that might give you stability.' SHOP: The award-winning mattress that's 'like sleeping on a cloud' The lash and brow oil that will save you hundreds at the salon Free product that could help increase your home's value by $112,000 Lauren also said in the video that she's experienced physical effects of grief that have impacted her mind, body and memory. She called the journey 'overwhelming and lonely' as she navigated parenting her two young kids, who were only five and two at the time of Jock's passing. 'By building a bigger life, I was able to make grief a small percentage of that and that created space for happiness and that's where we're at now,' she said.
