MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong has finally given her first detailed public comments about the death of co-star Jock Zonfrillo via a magazine column over the weekend.
Writing for News Corp’s Stellar (you can read the column in full HERE), the 41-year-old TV star and food writer talks about the grieving process after Zonfrillo was found dead of natural causes in a Melbourne hotel on the 30th of April.
Leong wrote in the column: “Sitting alone in my house and in sadness as I attempt to articulate some of my thoughts, I can tell you it is indeed a strange experience for someone who usually writes from the crystal-clear perspective of hindsight.
“The passing of someone from life is a powerfully shared experience.
“Even more so when that person lived a huge life and touched the lives of many.
“In their passing, a community struggles to come to terms with saying goodbye. Outside of immediate family and ‘framily’ (friends who are like family) members, whose privacy and consideration are paramount, grief is beautifully democratic.
“We must look outwards as well as inwards when it comes to our experience, checking in on the people in our lives who are also coping with loss. This can help to alleviate a little personal pain, reminding ourselves that no human is an island,” she rote.
Leong’s response to the unexpected death was in contrast to her co-host, Andy Allen, who went on 10’s The Project soon after Zonfrillo’s passing.
Speaking with The Project’s co-host Sarah Harris, Allen revealed he had enjoyed a three-hour catch up over lunch with Zonfrillo the day before his death.
“We just talked each other’s ear off for three hours. It was so … It was so normal. He was in such good spirits,” he said.
“He was so excited about the show launching,” he said. Zonfrillo died days before the launch of this year’s series of MasterChef.
He added that he felt “guilty” that Zonfrillo’s wife Lauren and their young kids, who were in Rome at the time of his death, weren’t there for that final lunch.
“Part of me … just feels guilty that it wasn’t them … I just wish that it was them sitting there having lunch with Jock. I’d give anything to swap positions,” he said, adding that Lauren was “the strongest woman I have ever known”.
“She’s lost her best friend. You know … Jock’s got three daughters, and it’s things like never being able to walk them down the aisle … They’re the things that are hurting her the most.
“Being 10 years younger than him, I still have so many things to learn. That was one of the things that he taught me, was to be vulnerable and show your emotions,” he said.
