Gregg Wallace on his struggles with autistic son, 4, wife’s health battles & devastating loss which rocked their family
HIS happy-go-lucky style and cheeky grin made him a TV favourite, but Gregg Wallace and Italian wife Anna have been through the mill in recent years.
Their son Sid, now four, was diagnosed with autism in 2022, and in November Anna’s beloved dad Massimo Sterpini, who had cancer, died at the couple’s home in Kent after a long illness.
Now 59-year-old MasterChef star Gregg tells The Sun that Anna — who has been through three lots of serious stomach surgery — is the glue that holds the family together in tough times.
The TV host, who is also dad to Tom, 29, and 27-year-old Libby, says: “Anna is very quiet and unassuming, but the whole family revolves around that young woman.
“She’s had three operations on her stomach, including a hysterectomy at 33, and had to use a colostomy bag for a year.
“She’s got an autistic little boy, she’s just lost her dad, she’s got grown-up stepchildren and a workaholic husband.
“That girl is an absolute pillar of strength and I have nothing but admiration for her.”
Gregg met caterer Anna, 37, in 2013 when she tweeted him to ask if rhubarb could really be served with duck.
The pair wed at Hever Castle in Kent and Sid was born in 2019.
But the little boy, who is non-verbal and still in nappies, later received an official diagnosis of autism.
Since then, Anna has thrown herself into an online course to learn the best way to communicate with her son.
‘Matriarchal family’
And last year Gregg, who previously said he went into “mourning” after the diagnosis, stepped back from TV’s Inside The Factory after seven years to spend more time at home and help his wife find a suitable school for the lad.
Talking to us ahead of the launch of his new health podcast, A Piece Of Cake, Gregg says: “Sid is a remarkable little boy.
“We were very fortunate we got Sid into a special needs school, Five Acre Woods.
“He skips in every day and comes out filthy every afternoon.
“He’s very happy.
“He’s non-verbal and in nappies still, but communication is improving.
“There’s lots of eye contact and smiles, and a cuddle is Sid’s default position.
“He’s spending more time interacting with toys and with us, so we are optimistic.”
Gregg says he has to explain autism to people who do not fully understand the condition, for which there is no cure.
He adds: “We’re looking for him to develop as much as he can and we’re looking to understand his world as much as we can.”
The star has become heavily involved in the charity Ambitious About Autism and recently launched a Little Sid rosebush with online store You Garden, which sees £5 from each sale given to the cause.
But Gregg, who brought up his older children as a single dad from the ages of ten and eight, says not being able to explain things to his young son is “troubling”.
He explains: “When he’s unhappy, he can’t tell us.
“If he’s scared or unwell, he can’t tell us.
“That’s quite nerve-racking for a parent.
“If he has to go to the doctor and have an injection, we can’t explain.
“We just take him into a room where someone stabs him in the arm.
“These are troubling things, so we want more communication.
“We don’t care what form it takes.
“It could be cards, symbols, typing or, if it’s verbal, great.
“I have a whole world of knights, castles, dragons and ogres I want to share with him.
“His mum and his Nonna (grandma) want to teach him to cook and make his bed, and his grandpa, who we have now lost, would have wanted to build a treehouse and show him how to use a catapult.”
Massimo and wife Rina moved into Gregg and Anna’s spacious Kent home after their wedding because, as the chef jokes: “You don’t marry an Italian girl, you marry the whole family.”
Sadly, in November they lost 66-year-old Massimo, 18 months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer which spread to his spine and brain.
The couple converted a downstairs room into his “hospital room” and nurses visited four times a day.
The family opted not to admit him to a hospice, but for him to spend his final days with them at home.
Speaking of their loss for the first time, Gregg said: “On the night he passed away, Rina said, ‘I’m going to sleep on the sofa by his bed’, and she came to us at four in the morning and asked if we wanted to say goodbye.
“I don’t know why, but I showered, had a shave and put a clean shirt on.
“Then I gave him a kiss and sat with him for a while.”
Gregg, who loves his “matriarchal family”, was close to his father-in-law, who was seven years his senior.
“We would sit in the garden, have a beer and chat about rugby and football.
“He was the best cook on a barbecue I’ve ever met, as it wasn’t an English approach,” he says.
“He didn’t just do it in the summertime at weekends.
“He had a pretty poor, semi-rural upbringing in southern Italy and that’s how he learned to cook — so his fish, his squid and his rabbit on the barbecue were just exceptional. We miss him.”
Gregg says the death of Massimo has meant a huge adjustment for Rina, who still lives with the couple.
He adds: “She helps look after Sid, which is hands-on, and her relationship with Anna is incredibly close, so I hope she’s not lonely.
“She’s a mum and nonna, but she’s no longer a wife and they were together a long time.”
While Gregg is known for his cookery shows and cookbooks, he feels blessed to have two Italian women in his life who also love to spend time in the kitchen.
‘Scared for the future’
“Anna and Rina get up in the morning, and one of them looks after Sid while the other one showers,” he says.
“They make a pot of coffee.
“Then they make a to-do list of what’s going to happen that day.
“They’re busy girls. They run that house.
“It’s a matriarchal family I’m living in.”
Tom and Libby were raised by Gregg after he fought for custody from second wife Denise, who struggled with alcohol addiction and died seven years ago.
Their marriage broke down in 2004, a year before he was hired as a judge on MasterChef.
At the time, he was still working as a greengrocer while his TV career took off.
Gregg became a single dad and slept on the floor of his one-bed flat for six months so his kids could have the bed.
“We muddled through and we’re a close unit,” he says.
“Tom and Libby realised the wonderful development when Anna came into my life, and Rina and Massimo quickly followed, as we didn’t have that big family support.
“Not many people have what I have here, that Italian kitchen family. Tom and Libby just melded into that.
“They were both at the hospital for Sid’s birth and they adore their little brother.
“He’s a really happy, cute little boy.
“For someone who doesn’t speak, he’s got a lot of character — he’s very popular in school.
“He’s never been shouted at.
“No one’s ever got angry with him.
“He just lives in a world of cuddly Italians and two rescue dogs.”
Having lost 5st in the past few years, slimming from 17st to a trim 12st, Gregg credits Anna with turning his life and health around.
His well-documented weight loss, achieved by changes in his diet and lifestyle, led him to build wellness brand Gregg Wallace Health, with Libby and Anna, which is now a booming business.
And in his new podcast on Global Player, he talks to expert guests including gut guru Dr Tim Spector, blogger Deliciously Ella and fitness coach Joe Wicks.
Having tried fad diets in the past, Gregg is out to bust myths and get Britain on track to everyday healthy habits.
“I tried not eating carbs, and life without pasta was hard enough, but life without bread, potatoes and rice is ludicrous,” he says.
“I tried fasting, but I was hungry all the time, so what’s the point?
“We have this crazy idea that if you want to lose weight, it has to be uncomfortable.
“Anna, who is in great shape, has never been to a gym and never been on a diet.
“What you’ve got in Anna’s diet is carbs — pasta, bread — a lot of veg and lean protein like fish and chicken.
“What there isn’t is chocolate bars, bags of crisps, takeaway curries. Just good food, every single day.”
Despite going to the gym each morning, Gregg insists exercise is not the best way to shed the pounds.
He reveals: “On my podcast, Dr Giles Yeo says the silliest way to try to lose weight is exercise. It won’t work.
“I do live chats on my Instagram every morning at 7am and I tell people you don’t have to exercise to lose weight.
“People say, ‘You’re in the gym every day’, but I’d already lost weight before I went.”
Gregg insists the country’s obesity crisis is down to poor cooking skills plus a “grab and go” attitude to food.
He says: “People leave home with no idea what breakfast, lunch and dinner are going to be.
“We are in a terrible snack and takeaway culture, putting loads of calories in our body without filling ourselves up with nutritious food.
“The country has hit crisis level because nobody knows how to cook.
“I’m really scared for the future.”
Now hear Gregg’s new podcast for free
A PIECE Of Cake with Gregg Wallace, a Global Player Original Podcast, is out now.
You can listen to it on Global Player for free by downloading from wherever you get your podcasts.