How Lauren Zonfrillo draws inspiration from Jock’s final words

Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo’s last words weren’t spoken aloud to his wife Lauren – they were written down in a journal the widowed mother-of-two draws inspiration from during times of hardship.

Beloved celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo’s last words weren’t spoken aloud to his wife Lauren – they were written down in a well-worn journal that the widowed mother-of-two draws inspiration from during times of hardship.

Ms Zonfrillo has opened up almost two years after her husband’s unexpected death in a hotel in a tell-all interview with Liz Hayes for Channel 7’s Spotlight.

Sharing how he loved to journal, Ms Zonfrillo revealed the 46-year-old’s final entry was written while she and their children – Alfie, now seven, and Isla, now four – were in Italy waiting for him to join them after media commitments for MasterChef Australia.

Zonfrillo’s final written words detailed his love of being a hands-on dad and how “proud” he was of her, she said.

“He always liked to put the kids to bed at night, did all the voices with the books, and so he just wrote about missing those things and that he looked forward to getting (to Italy),” Ms Zonfrillo said.

Lauren Zonfrillo with Liz Hayes. Picture: Channel 7

“He wrote: ‘Lauren didn’t see herself, but I think she’s just doing so much, but she’s so capable and I’m really proud that she can do those hard things well’, and that’s meant a lot to me now.”

She said the words had been a comfort to her in the years since his death.

The late celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo. Picture: Eugene Hyland

“He wrote about such a normal conversation, but I got his version,” she said.

“But it was kind of like this encouragement to say: ‘You’ve got this Lauren’. There’s been many times when I’ve (felt) I haven’t got this.”

The Scottish-born celebrity chef was found dead in a Melbourne hotel hours before the first episode of MasterChef’s 2023 season was due to air, sparking an outpouring of grief from friends, family and fans across the globe.

His cause of death has never been publicly released.

MasterChef judges Melissa Leong, Andy Allen and Jock Zonfrillo.

Reading from her husband’s journal, Ms Zonfrillo said her husband’s entries described how he was “so happy” their family was “finding our feet”.

“He was excited about creating these little Aussie-Italian-Scottish children, how that might be, and what Isla’s accent was going to be like when she starts talking full sentences,” she said.

Fellow MasterChef judge and Jock’s friend Andy Allen said he could “still remember” the call in the early hours of the morning.

“As soon as I got off the phone, I ran straight to the bathroom, and I vomited everywhere,” he said.

Speaking about her husband’s funeral, Lauren said the media presence at his funeral made her feel like “all control and power had been taken away from me”.

“Even when I drove up to the funeral to the door, I realised that there was just so many cameras there, and I was just really disempowered.”

The interview will air on Spotlight tonight at 8pm on Seven, in Liz Hayes’ first special project as guest correspondent.

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Originally published as How Lauren Zonfrillo draws inspiration from Jock’s final words