Melissa Leong: ‘I’m addressing it for the first and last time’
After intense public interest in how she expressed her grief following the death of fellow MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong opens up on why “privacy is at an all-time low” and addresses the future of MasterChef.
Stellar
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By her own admission, Melissa Leong will finish the year a very different woman to the one she was when it began. There was, of course, the death of fellow MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo, which saw her having to navigate her grief in public. Now, speaking to Stellar’s podcast Something To Talk About, Leong opens up “for the first and last time” about that, explains how a sweet opportunity to host the new show Dessert Masters came at just the right time, and addresses the “million-dollar question” of what lies ahead for MasterChef
On how she has navigated the past six months, particularly since the passing in April of Jock Zonfrillo, who – along with Leong and Andy Allen – starred in MasterChef Australia as a judge since 2020: “The past couple of months – I just have to say, obviously
– I haven’t really spoken much. But I am extremely grateful for every piece of kindness and understanding that has come my way, and our way. It’s fairly obvious that I’ve chosen to keep that moment relatively private and I think that that’s a really important thing for me. But at the same time, 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? It’s really important to me as I walk through life to try to honour what makes sense to me. And I reckon what will always make sense to me is to take a moment like this and be quiet and be private.”
On whether she felt pressure or the expectation, given Zonfrillo’s death became one of the year’s biggest news stories, to publicly express or speak about her grief: “As we walk through life, we will lose people. That’s a very common, shared experience we all have as human beings. The way we cope with loss is highly individualised. We can only do what makes sense to us. I believe we must honour and respect however people choose to walk through those next steps, because only they can. Giving people enough space to do what’s natural to them is the kindest thing we can do for ourselves and for each other. Self-possession is something that I work on every day. I want to walk through life holding my head up high, knowing that I am doing right by myself and the best I can for others. Everybody deals with things in different ways. I don’t feel like it’s overly constructive to contribute to the public discussion about it, because what it does is then prohibit people from doing what they need to do to heal. So that’s a big reason for it.”
On the factors that played into her decision to, until now, remain private with her thoughts on the matter: “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. 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.”
Listen to the full interview with Melissa Leong on Something To Talk About here or wherever you get your podcasts
On the impact that her fame has had upon family and friends: “I come from a family with Chinese heritage. Part of our culture dictates that things are kept reasonably private. You process your problems with your family and with the people who are closest to you, but you don’t necessarily share that beyond the family home, so to speak. So when I took on a job like this, I think I said no twice before I actually accepted the job, and the reason was, as a journalist, it’s our job to question things. And having seen the three wonderful former judges [Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris hosted MasterChef Australia from 2009 to 2019] go through that very unexpected rise and rise and rise, rise, 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. 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. I’ll do it a little bit later because I think everybody in my life deserves that dignity and privacy; I’m very protective of that. That’s why I share what I share and I don’t share what I don’t share, and I know people have an issue with that because they’re like, ‘But you’re so open about other things.’ It’s about clear boundaries. And 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.”
On co-hosting the new show Dessert Masters, in which 10 of Australia’s most decorated pastry chefs and chocolate and baking experts will battle it out to be named Australia’s first Dessert Master: “Do you want to know a secret? I’m not a sweet tooth. I will always choose the cheese course over the dessert course every single time, and people out there must just be going, ‘Oh, come on. Why did you choose her then?’ Well, I think it’s actually good that I’m not a dessert fiend because I’m not looking at this through sugar-encrusted lenses. I’m looking at desserts and sweets with a critical point of view for balance and for what makes a dish, sweet or savoury, great. It just so happens that we are working with 10 of the best pastry chefs in the country, so they make the job incredibly hard but, ultimately, I have to lean back on my journalistic roots and my critical roots to say, well, I need to not love it too much. I need to look at it from the outside, because that’s how I can judge most objectively and that’s what gives, I believe, my weight to my role within the show.”
On whether stepping up to co-host a new show is liberating or daunting when compared to the experience of fronting an established franchise such as MasterChef Australia:
“I think Dessert Masters is a wonderful opportunity for me because MasterChef takes up a huge chunk of the year, and when you do it for a number of years, it does preclude you from doing other things. That’s OK because it’s a dream job and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but when you’re given an opportunity to stretch your legs in a different capacity, take on a different set of responsibilities perhaps, to step it up in the pressure stakes a little bit... I mean, we throw a lot of pressure at contestants, why not start the pressure test back on me? That’s OK, because I’m ready for it and I had a blast. Just like I have such fun on MasterChef, I had the most incredible time. It’s a different dynamic and a different feeling, to be sure, and that’s wonderful. I think variety is the spice of life, without throwing too many food puns in there.”
On whether she believes there has been progress in Asian representation on mainstream TV since joining MasterChef Australia four years ago: “I still remain shocked that my being there at that point in time, which was only just a couple of years ago, was so shocking to people. It really is an observation of where we’re still at with representation, but what’s wonderful about this time in entertainment is that I’m one of many. I’m one of many pushing forward for representation, not just culturally but for all levels of identity. It has been a wonderful time to feel a part of something. Are we there yet? Absolutely not, obviously, but I think that every person who is part of a community that feels under-represented knows how to play the long game. I know that what I’m contributing towards, alongside so many other people, is setting up generations to come, to make it easier for them. It takes time, it takes generations. But we’re used to the struggle. It has given us resilience. It has given us a way to define ourselves with strength and with dignity, and that’s a really wonderful thing to be a part of. So I’m not about being negative. I think that any movement forward, any time the dial gets pushed forward, even incrementally – that’s a good thing and we should be grateful for that. But we never rest there.”
On the future of MasterChef Australia and what the show should look like moving forward: “It’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I think what I want to see, or what I hope will happen next, is that our audience will continue to embrace this with an open mind and an open heart. We were so lucky in 2020 when we started. Obviously, the former judges were so beloved, and continue to be so beloved, and so that’s a tough act to follow. But what we were gifted was an audience that said, OK, we’ll give them an opportunity to be themselves. And we very much are ourselves, you know, we’ve been ourselves and they’ve embraced us – and that means the world to us. So what I hope for is [that] however this long-running, beloved show continues to evolve – because it deserves to grow – that the audience continues to embrace what happens next. Can I answer all the granular questions everybody wants to know about? No, I can’t, because some of them I don’t even know myself. And I think it’s good to leave a little bit of mystery to be revealed.”
On whether she believes she will end 2023 as a different woman to the one she was when the year began: “I always hope to continue to grow and to take on new layers, and maybe shed some old layers, as well, as I progress through life. So will I be a different person at the end of this year to when I started? Absolutely, for lots of different reasons and one of them is that I really do make a point of being open-minded and learning what life has to tell me. Sometimes these are lessons we don’t want to hear. We don’t want to take them on. But I think that when we are open to learning then we continue to move closer towards who we really are – and that’s a huge adult goal for me. I don’t know how adult I feel at times, but the one thing that I want to maintain, and I’m really focused on, is moving closer to being absolutely the embodiment of who I am – and who I’m meant to be. There are humbling moments and there are inspiring moments and motivational moments, so it’s just the culmination of all those different things that lead you towards being that. Making a decision and being OK with it not being OK with other people. If it’s OK with me and it makes sense to me, then that’s my choice and I’m going to stick with it. So it’s sticking to those boundaries, it’s being unapologetically yourself, even when it’s difficult.”
Dessert Masters is coming to Network 10 and 10 Play this November.
Originally published as Melissa Leong: ‘I’m addressing it for the first and last time’
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