MasterChef judge Melissa Leong opens up about her silence after Jock Zonfrillo’s death

The MasterChef judge admits she “hasn’t spoken much” about the shock death of her co-star Jock Zonfrillo – as she revealed the compelling reason why.

Melissa Leong has addressed Jock Zonfrillo’s death “for the first and last time”.

The MasterChef judge, 41, paid tribute to her co-star following his shock death in April aged 46, but since then, has largely been grieving in private.

Speaking to Stellar, Leong claimed she had been the subject of criticism over her decision not to open up further about how Zonfrillo’s death was impacting her.

“I’m known as being someone who is pretty open about showing emotion in my work and as a human being. I’m not afraid of weighing in where I feel like I really am passionate about something. So I think there’s been quite a disconnect in terms of, well, why is she remaining quiet at a time like this?” Leong told the magazine in Sunday’s issue, as well as on its Something To Talk About podcast.

“I know a lot of people have been wondering that and so hopefully – for the first and last time – I can address it and we can move on from it.”

She continued: “Let’s look at the landscape we currently live in. We can access almost every piece of information we want to know at a second’s notice. We live in a moment in time where instant gratification is a given, and so when you can’t access information, there’s a bit of a disconnect there because people want to know why.

“And, for me, the why is very simple: Because it’s not my story to tell.

“When someone leaves us, it affects so many people, whether or not it’s someone who has a public profile. When someone leaves your life, it affects a whole community of people, and each one of them is dealing with that loss in a different way.

“I feel like it isn’t constructive to continue to vocalise the way that I might feel, because it may impede someone else’s process. And so this is what makes sense to me … to approach this moment in my time with respect and to go gently with it.”

Melissa Leong revealed why she “hasn’t spoken much” about Jock Zonfrillo’s death.

Leong, who joined the Channel 10 show alongside Zonfrillo and Andy Allen in 2020, went on to explain another reason why she chooses to remain private about certain things in her life.

The food writer seldom discusses personal matters, including her divorce from ex-husband Joe Jones in 2020.

She also made headlines in May after seemingly splitting from her recent boyfriend Rob Mason, whom she had been dating since late 2021, but is yet to address the reports.

While she’s “extremely grateful” for support she receives being a public figure, Leong finds it unfair on those in her inner circle when she speaks publicly – which, she reveals, was part of the reason why she said ‘no’ to being a judge on MasterChef not once, but twice.

“It’s fairly obvious that I’ve chosen to keep that moment [Zonfrillo’s death] relatively private and I think that that’s a really important thing for me,” she said.

“I think I said no twice before I actually accepted [MasterChef], and the reason was, as a journalist, it’s our job to question things. I knew [when] accepting the baton to be part of that next chapter that that would come with some good parts that I would love, some wonderful opportunities, but also I would have to sacrifice certain things. And I had to decide for myself whether or not I could live with the price of that.

“But that’s just me – that’s not my family, that’s not my close friends, that’s not the people in my immediate orbit. It isn’t fair for them to be dragged through things.”

Leong with her ex-husband, bar owner Joe Jones, whom she split from in 2020. Picture: Christian Gilles

She continued: “It’s part of the reason why I’ve ramped down sharing too much about relationships and close friends or where I am, when I’m there.

“What I’m generally happy to share are the broader themes in life, the lessons I’ve learnt that might be constructive to somebody or might make someone feel less alone in what they’re going through.

“That’s sort of the line for me: if it helps someone else, great. But still, all of us should reserve the right for keeping some things private. Privacy is at an all-time low, and I think we should value it more.”

Read the full interview in Stellar, available in News Corp’s The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria), The Sunday Mail (Queensland), and Sunday Mail (SA)

Originally published as MasterChef judge Melissa Leong opens up about her silence after Jock Zonfrillo’s death