Jock was found dead in a Melbourne hotel on May 1, 2023; his cause of death remains undisclosed.
Lauren is releasing a book on grief, aiming to help others through their pain.
Late MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren has given her first in-depth interview since his death, speaking to veteran journalist Liz Hayes for a Spotlight special that aired on Sunday night.
And while she acknowledged the intense public speculation about her husband’s passing, Lauren promised that she would not reveal his cause of death in a bid to respect their family’s privacy.
‘I was hysterical’: The night Jock died
Lauren recalled the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death, explaining that she and the couple’s two children were on the other side of the world, in their new adopted home city of Rome, while Zonfrillo stayed back in Australia to promote the next season of MasterChef.
On the night of April 30, 2023, Lauren repeatedly tried to contact her husband in his Melbourne hotel room but received no response. Eventually she contacted the hotel front desk to ask them to check on him.
“I was now hysterical,” she told Hayes and said she knew that something must be very wrong.
Police were then summoned to the hotel to perform a welfare check, and the message was relayed back to Lauren in coldly clinical terms: That a “deceased male” had been found in Zonfrillo’s hotel room. It was her husband.
Lauren also spoke of spending time with Jock’s body once she arrived in Melbourne, telling Hayes that she begged for answers to “so many unanswered questions”.
“I asked him what the f**k happened,” she confessed.
“I thought, this is done. I’m broken now, and there’s no fixing me. The person I love that much cannot be there.”
Jock’s cause of death to stay secret
That question – what had happened to cause Zonfrillo’s death – has remained publicly unanswered in the two years since his death.
Hayes said Zonfrillo was dogged by “bouts of anxiety”, with his widow describing him as a “beautifully flawed man”. He’d publicly spoken about his past battles with drug abuse, including heroin.
“This is a hard question for me to ask,” Hayes said, “but do you think his demons had caught up with him?”
Lauren flatly refused that proposition and said she was heartened by reports from those who discovered his body that it appeared Jock had passed peacefully in his bed.
Jock and Lauren Zonfrillo. Photo / Instagram
Hayes brought up the mystery of Jock’s cause of death, which the coroner determined would not be released publicly.
Lauren said she “respected” the coroner’s findings and said that she wanted to give her late husband and the rest of her family “privacy” and “peace”.
Hayes noted that Jock’s cause of death remained a “tough subject” for Lauren and asked her if she could appreciate the public’s interest in how her relatively young, seemingly healthy husband had died.
Lauren said that while she understood the curiosity, she didn’t think sharing such personal information about her late husband was her place.
“I now don’t want to make those decisions of what he does and doesn’t want to talk about, if it wasn’t in the public domain in any way, or comments about anything that he hasn’t brought up before,” Lauren said.
While it may forever remain a mystery to the public, Hayes asked Lauren if knowing her husband’s cause of death had “helped” her deal with the loss.
“Umm … I wouldn’t say helped. Nothing’s unanswered, nothing’s not understood. I have an answer … but it doesn’t make a difference.”
Jock, 46, was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in May 2023. His cause of death has never been publicly released.
News.com.au reported in February this year that a 16-month investigation into the Scottish chef’s passing had been completed by the coroner, but the findings would remain private unless his family decides to share them.’
“People want to know why he died, and how he died,” Hayes told Lauren.
Zonfrillo’s body was discovered at Zagame’s House hotel on Lygon St, near Melbourne’s CBD, in the early hours of May 1, 2023.
Police had been called to the hotel to conduct a welfare check on the father of four, just one day before the latest season of MasterChef was due to premiere.
Zonfrillo was survived by Lauren and their two young children – Alfie and Isla – who were in Rome, Italy at the time of his death. Lauren was the one who made the frantic call to police to check on him after becoming concerned when he stopped answering her calls.
A spokesman for Victoria’s Coroners Court told news.com.au in February that the investigation into Zonfrillo’s death was privately finalised in late August last year.
“At the close of the investigation, the coroner determined that the finding would not be published,” the spokesman said.
Not all coronial findings are required to be published.
This new interview comes as Lauren prepares to release a new book about grief following the trauma of losing her husband.
