Gregg Wallace talks about eating human meat
Gregg Wallace is best known for his judging role alongside John Torode on BBC’s MasterChef, which he’s been a part of since 2005.
Away from this, the 58-year-old has had a long-standing TV career, from being the original host of Saturday Kitchen in 2002 to facing criticism for his Channel 4 mockumentary The British Miracle Meat last month.
However, it wasn’t an easy start for the celebrity chef as Express.co.uk has decided to take a look into the life of Gregg away from the camera.
Hailing from Peckham in South London, the cook spoke about his upbringing in his autobiography Life On A Plate where he revealed he was sexually abused.
At eight years old Gregg confessed he was kissed by his babysitter’s husband, called George, who was in his 60s.
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In the book, Gregg wrote: “I never did tell mum, or anyone else. I didn’t really understand what had happened and somehow I knew he (George) would also be in really big trouble.
“I didn’t until I got older, consider myself a victim. Instead, I felt ashamed, as if I was complicit.”
A few years later, Gregg left home at around 14 years old after falling out with his mum and was on the cusp of being homeless as he stayed on friends’ sofas each night.
At around the same time, he went on to sell vegetables at a market stand in Covent Garden which resulted in him becoming a salesman.
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Since then, he built up a business empire and opened his restaurant Wallace & Co along with Gregg’s Bar & Grill, although sadly they’ve both since folded.
In terms of his personal life, Gregg has been married on four separate occasions and divorced three times.
He has two children from his second wife Denise Lovall called Tom and Libby but the pair separated in 2004.
Sadly, Denise died following a tough battle with alcohol addiction in 2017.
He met his third wife Heidi Brown in 2009 and split with her in 2012, 15 months after tying the knot, Gregg went on to meet his current wife Anne-Marie Sterpini the following year.
She’s 22 years his junior, and the pair went on to have their first child together called Sid in 2019.
They live together in a luxurious £1 million house in Kent with their pet dogs and his in-laws Rina and Massimo.
Over the years, fans have seen Gregg’s appearance change drastically after losing four stone following a stern warning from his doctor.
Speaking about his weight loss in the past, the chef told Hello!: “I was scared because my doctor told me that if I didn’t change things I was going to die because my cholesterol was so high.”
He also confessed his wife was a motivating factor as he wanted to be fit and well for her due to him being 22 years older than her.
While many fans love Gregg’s quick-witted banter and fast comebacks, the chef found himself facing a wave of backlash following his Channel 4 mockumentary, The British Miracle Meat.
The episode saw Gregg introduce a fake company which “engineered human meat”, as viewers watched in horror at the cook tucking into burgers and steaks made of “flesh”.
Despite the documentary being a work of fiction, Ofcom received 408 complaints over the instalment which explored the consumption of human meat.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “It’s satire – so I suppose that was the point. Everybody was an actor. I was acting. None of it was real.
“I thought at some point people would fall about laughing but they didn’t. People asked how I could put my name to this documentary but I didn’t – it wasn’t a documentary
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