Latest news with #LaurenZonfrillo
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'.
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Liz Hayes disappoints in ratings in first assignment with 7NEWS Spotlight after quitting rival 60 Minutes - despite 'powerful' interview with Jock Zonfrillo's widow Lauren
Liz Hayes' recent interview with Jock Zonfrillo 's widow failed to draw the expected crowds despite weeks of promotional build-up and hype in the media sphere. The 7NEWS Spotlight journalist, 68, spoke to Lauren Zonfrillo on Sunday about the devastating loss of her husband, who was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room around 2am on May 1, 2023 after police were called to conduct a welfare check. The interview, which is the first sit-down that the grieving widow has done since her husband passed away two years ago, was set to draw in the ratings as the promotional clips dubbed it 'one of the most powerful interviews of the year'. However, the segment was surprisingly out-rated by Nine's 60 Minutes, which aired during the same time slot and was previously fronted by Liz herself. It was revealed by that 7NEWS Spotlight was watched by 418,000 people on Sunday night while 60 Minutes was watched by 444,000, amassing an extra 26,000 views. Despite the ratings showing a slump, Liz was perfectly tipped for the interview after chatting to the late Jock Zonfrillo a month prior to his death for Spotlight's TV nemesis 60 Minutes. The 7NEWS Spotlight journalist, 68, spoke to Lauren Zonfrillo on Sunday about the devastating loss of her husband, who was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room around 2am on May 1, 2023 after police were called to conduct a welfare check. Pictured with Jock The journalist, who worked for Channel Nine for 44 years before quitting in February 2025, chatted to the celebrity chef in April 2023, however the channel decided against airing the interview. Liz announced a shock move to rival network Seven earlier this year. Two months after departing Nine, ending her decades with the network, the former 60 Minutes star has officially joined Channel Seven to work on current affairs show Spotlight. Spotlight executive producer Gemma Williams said it was a privilege to welcome Liz to the network's flagship news show. 'We're privileged to welcome Liz Hayes to 7NEWS Spotlight as a guest correspondent,' she said. 'Widely respected for her decades of experience, storytelling expertise and journalistic integrity, we look forward to collaborating with Liz on this special project.' Daily Mail Australia's Inside Mail earlier revealed that Liz's first assignment for Spotlight was the tell-all interview with Lauren Zonfrillo. On Sunday night, Lauren shared the harrowing final moments she spent with her MasterChef Australia star husband Jock as she said goodbye to his lifeless body. His grieving widow raced home to Australia from Italy with the couple's two young children, where she was faced with seeing his body in a Melbourne morgue. Lauren told 7NEWS Spotlight that she was full of fear - but needed to see her husband, 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 while tears rolled down her face. 'Jock was in his pyjamas. I could smell his aftershave. I could smell his hair product. It was just like Jock was sleeping. 'I went up to him, and I wanted to touch him but I was quite scared. And so I started with his hair, and then I could touch his face, then I was kind of, was okay with it. But it was really my time to say goodbye to Jock' she continued. '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.' Lauren said that she begged her husband to tell her what happened to him, and wished that he would reply. 'I asked him what the f**k happened, and I just wanted the words from him. He just looked completely normal to me. '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.'
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.
