Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren Fried shares emotional post on wedding anniversary

The wife of late MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has penned an emotional tribute to her husband, revealing the couple’s plans for their future before his untimely death.

Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren Fried has revealed the couple’s heartwarming plans for their future together before his untimely death last year.

Taking to Instagram on what would’ve been the pair’s seventh wedding anniversary, Fried shared how they wished to “grow old together” in Europe, alongside a montage of photos from their 2017 beachside wedding.

“Happy anniversary my love. Our dream of growing old together in the middle of nowhere in Italy – kids and dogs under our feet, you laughing your enormous laugh, falling asleep on your chest – is so vivid,” Fried wrote in a post shared to Zonfrillo’s account.

“That’s where I imagine you now.”

Jock Zonfrillo's widow Lauren has shared a touching tribute to her late husband on their wedding anniversary.

They were married on January 1 in 2017.

The couple had quietly moved to Rome in the weeks prior to Zonfrillo’s death aged 46, with the MasterChef judge found dead in Melbourne on April 30 just hours before the 15th season of the Channel 10 cooking show was due to premiere.

Lauren was in Italy at the time of his death with the couple’s two young children, Alfie, 5, and Isla, 3, who flew home to Australia shortly afterwards.

Jock Zonfrillo and wife Lauren and their two kids Alfie and Isla. Picture: jockzonfrillo/facebook

It comes as the family had their first Christmas without Zonfrillo, with Lauren sharing on social media the festive season was “different this year”.

“No less love or excitement, just my stubbornness to see the kid’s faces light up in spite of it all,” Lauren wrote alongside a series of photos of their children on Christmas Day.

“As much as I willed [Christmas Day] to be over, I can’t skip this chapter. The long list of firsts, I hear they get easier, I believe that to be true.

“Watching our gorgeous children navigating their first Xmas, I can see now that tragedy will make them. It will make them fierce and fearless, they’ll have a strength no-one can quite put their finger on. And they will undoubtedly have a life bigger than the one Jock and I dreamt for them because of this. They’ll be stronger in the broken bits.”

Zonfrillo and Lauren met in 2014. Picture: @zonfrillo

Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen became MasterChef judges in 2020.

Zonfrillo also shares two other adult children, Ava and Sophia, from previous marriages.

MasterChef is set to air in a few months time with a new judging line-up, after it was revealed in October that Melissa Leong was axed.

Leong was replaced by MasterChef season 1 runner-up Poh Ling Yeow and Michelin star chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

The newcomers will join existing judge Andy Allen when the beloved series returns for its 16th season.

Originally published as Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren Fried shares emotional post on wedding anniversary