On my first birthday without him, I found solace in a blend of prescribed medications, among them cannabis oil, as I navigated life after the unexpected passing of my renowned chef spouse.
46-year-old MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo was tragically discovered deceased in his hotel room in Melbourne at around 2 am on May 1, 2023, following a wellness check by authorities.
There was much discussion about what led to Zonfrillo’s unexpected passing, given his publicly known battles with substance abuse and mental health issues.
He departed, leaving behind him Lauren and their two small kids, aged five (Alfie) and three (Isla), in addition to his daughters Ava and Sofia from past relationships.
When Zonfrillo passed away, it was said that Lauren, who was then in Italy, grew anxious because he hadn’t adhered to their regular routine of daily phone conversations.
A high-ranking Victoria Police insider informed Daily Mail Australia that the police officers who went to Zagame’s residence in Carlton discovered Zonfrillo deceased in his bed, with nothing apparently out of the ordinary or suggesting foul play.
In my professional opinion, upon investigation, I found no signs of any illicit materials, I was alone in my room, and the authorities on site initially concluded that my passing was due to natural circumstances.
Lauren has never disclosed the reason behind Zonfrillo’s demise, with a representative from the Victorian Coroners Court revealing to Daily Mail Australia in February that the results of the August 2024 investigation won’t be made public.
There’s some uncertainty as to whether Lauren will disclose details about the events that transpired on the night her spouse passed away in her forthcoming book titled “Till Death Do Us Part.” A snippet from this book is featured in the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
In that extract, Lauren describes how she coped with her first birthday after Zonfrillo’s loss.
She reports writing that she began weeping the previous night and persisted for several hours while in bed. To help herself sleep, she ingested a sleeping pill. Upon waking up the following day, her tears resumed immediately.
In the morning, the children entered my room, and without a word, Alfie hurried down to the freezer, fetched two ice packs for me, returned upstairs, and instructed me to apply them to my head.
My statement was that it was my birthday, and the reply I received was a question about when they could have a piece of my cake.
Alfie and Isla then went downstairs and made themselves breakfast.
She expresses that it seemed they didn’t appreciate it was her birthday, which only intensified her already uncontrollable tears. Later, she realized they might not have recognized the significance of the day for her, and she found herself hoping for more understanding from a three-year-old and a six-year-old than from them.
Instead, she chose to switch off her phone so she could have a quiet moment to shed tears and reflect upon her feelings without interruptions from well-wishers on her birthday.
She mentions that it’s approximately one and a half hours until her scheduled birthday lunch with friends, so she gets up, takes a few beta-blockers and some CBD oil, takes a shower, and calls an Uber.
Lauren shed tears upon encountering friends, among them being Andy Allen, a former Judge on MasterChef alongside her late spouse, and his wife Alex, during a shared lunch.
CBD oil, derived from the hemp plant, serves as a prescribed treatment for epilepsy. Some individuals utilize it to alleviate feelings of anxiety and discomfort.
Beta-blockers are used to lower blood pressure and heart rate but can also ease anxiety.
Lauren initially believed that the initial year following Zonfrillo’s passing would prove to be the most challenging due to the numerous ‘firsts’ his absence would bring about within their family. However, contrary to her expectations, this proved not to be the case.
She notes that while it might seem accurate for the initial celebrations of Christmas or Mother’s Day, these events occur repeatedly throughout the year. Moreover, some of these annual occurrences can be unexpected, like unpredictable waves in the sea.
Lauren also describes how she handles raising two young children as a single parent.
‘An agreement I made with myself early on was that good enough was good enough,’ she writes.
In one of those instances, she opted to arrange a birthday cake through Uber Eats instead, a task that had traditionally been handled by her spouse.
Despite his expertise in marketing and communications, even the founder of the agency, who often graces the ABC’s Gruen panel, found himself perplexed about how to illuminate the Christmas tree lights.
‘I just keep telling myself that I am doing the best I can in this moment in time,’ she writes.
As the days pass since Jock’s passing, the significance of numbers is becoming less prominent in my thoughts, transitioning from a focus on immediate survival and coping with each day to finding solace in feelings of freedom and relief from guilt.
As a die-hard fan, I can tell you that in the days leading up to his untimely passing, my idol and the brilliant mind behind MasterChef, Zonfrillo, had been meticulously preparing for the grand debut of its 15th season. Tragically, it was on the very night his body was discovered that this season was scheduled to premiere.
Apart from his untimely demise, he was simultaneously sketching out ideas for a fresh eatery and making progress on a recipe book.
Zonfrillo and his spouse decided to list their four-bedroom house in Carlton as a rental property, considering a possible long-term relocation to Italy, the homeland of his father.
Previously, it was disclosed by Daily Mail Australia that Zonfrillo was diagnosed with colon cancer around mid-2021, following a prior recovery from the same illness.
Zonfrillo didn’t die from cancer; instead, he informed his friends that the disease had been rediscovered during a regular colonoscopy examination.
According to the information, Zonfrillo usually hid his health issues from many of his friends and work associates. During periods when MasterChef wasn’t being filmed, he underwent treatments such as chemotherapy.
Two weeks following the passing of Zonfrillo, his wife was at the forefront as approximately 200 mourners convened for a funeral service held at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium in North Ryde on May 13th.
At the service, there were some notable attendees such as celebrity chefs George Calombaris, Matt Moran, Colin Fassnidge, Manu Feildel, Shannon Bennett, along with Allen and Melissa Leong, who are Zonfrillo’s fellow TV show cast members.
At the event, Lauren was one of those carrying the casket, followed by Lauren giving a heartfelt speech. Later on, Jimmy Barnes, a close companion and compatriot of Zonfrillo, along with his daughter Mahalia, performed “Amazing Grace” as a touching tribute.
In his 2021 memoir titled “Last Shot”, Zonfrillo shared his struggles with a heroin addiction that began during his teenage years while he worked as a chef in Glasgow.
Following his relocation to north-west England, he started dealing cocaine and various other illicit substances to boost his income. Eventually, he lost his job and at the tender age of 17, he journeyed to London.
1994 saw Zonfrillo pay a visit to Marco Pierre White’s prestigious restaurant within the Hyde Park Hotel, an encounter that proved transformative. This esteemed chef served as a guiding force, shaping Zonfrillo’s life significantly.
At the age of twenty, he relocated to Australia in 1996 and secured employment at Forty One restaurant in Sydney. There, he resorted to using drugs such as cocaine, pills, LSD, and cannabis.
As mentioned in his book, Zonfrillo managed to conceal his intense heroin addiction from everyone until 1997, when his visa expired and he returned to the United Kingdom.
He described his final dose of heroin, which he took in the restrooms at London’s Heathrow Airport, before heading back to Australia in early 2000.
In the year 2013, Zonfrillo launched two of his personal eateries, Orana and Bistro Blackwood, both located in Adelaide. Later on, he expanded his collection with a third establishment, Nonna Mallozzi, which opened in 2018.
The latter lasted six months, Bistro Blackwood closed in late 2019 and Orana in March 2020.
2020 saw the addition of Zonfrillo to the MasterChef Australia judging team, alongside food critic Leong and restaurateur Allen, as original judges Calombaris, Gary Mehigan, and Matt Preston departed.
This week, it was disclosed by Daily Mail Australia’s Inside Mail that Liz Hayes will conduct an interview with Lauren as part of her debut on Seven’s Spotlight program, following her departure from Nine’s 60 Minutes.
Till Death Do Us Part, published by Penguin Books Australia, will be released on May 6.
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2025-04-17 07:35