Gregg Wallace opens up on raising a child with autism
Gregg Wallace has lamented that, as Sid is unable to communicate his feelings, “all our dreams of how we wanted to interact with [our] child are gone”.
However, the 58-year-old MasterChef judge explained that, thanks to an online course with experts in the USA, his wife Anna is learning how to coach Sid “to communicate [and] possibly speak”.
In an interview with the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine, Gregg shared that his son still enjoys play, cuddles and interaction – something which brings him joy and “hope”.
Gregg, Sid, Anna, and her parents Rina and Massimo, all live together at in the Kent countryside, where looking after their “beautiful” boy is a top priority, no matter how challenging his condition might become.
“[We] were going to bring him up to be a domestic god. He was going to be cooking Sunday roasts by the time he was six. His grandpa would be making bows and arrows and treehouses with him. So we’re all missing out,” he stated.
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However, Gregg is now adjusting and “learning to consider the efforts our young child is making to make sense of the world he’s living in”.
“He can’t filter sound. The door creaking… could have been enough for him to put his hands over his ears,” he explained.
The presenter acknowledges that his child is “incredibly intelligent”, yet sensitive, and says experts have told him he may be seeing his family the way others see a “mirror image on a shiny spoon”.
Sometimes he “retreats” from human contact, and will rock backwards and forwards while holding onto his iPad.
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In those situations, Gregg mimics him and does exactly the same actions around three feet away from him, in an effort to bond with his son.
The time he’s put in as a parent has paid off, as he can now reveal his son has begun to initiate physical contact, sometimes lying beside him or resting his head on his shoulder.
He accepts his son, who arrived in 2019, exactly as he is and regards him as a “miracle” baby, having initially believed that Anna might not be able to conceive at all.
She had suffered from the painful condition endometriosis, which involves tissue similar to the womb lining growing outside of the womb, and often affects a woman’s fertility.
Anna ended up having a hysterectomy aged just 33, followed by removal of part of her intestines, and was wearing a colostomy bag for a year afterwards.
“Thankfully I’ve got Sid. Having a hysterectomy without having already had a child, would have been horrendous,” she explained afterwards to OK! magazine.
She confided that she will now be on HRT for life, to stabilise her hormone levels following the hysterectomy, while quitting presenting The Factory will have left Gregg with more quality time at home.
Nowadays, she and Gregg – who has developed an exercise plan to get back in shape and has a video call with a personal trainer every day – are enjoying spending time with “miracle” Sid, come what may.
Masterchef will return to BBC One and iPlayer in August.
If this story has affected you, the National Autism Society (https://www.autism.org.uk) offers information and support.
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