MasterChef host Jock Zonfrillo once claimed he was “on a one-way road towards a pine box or behind bars” in his youth due to his drug issues – before he turned it all around and became a hugely successful chef.
MasterChef presenter Jock Zonfrillo has died at the age of 46, leaving his family “devastated”.
The chef, who has opened several restaurants across Australia, once opened up about his troubled adolescence as a teen drug addict.
The Glasgow–born chef didn’t have an easy life as an adolescent, previously comparing his battle with heroin to a scene from the famous Scottish film Trainspotting.
He also claimed that most of his friends from that period of his life were “dead or in jail”.
“I grew up in Scotland and for a while, my life was the full Trainspotting nine yards,” he revealed candidly.
READ NOW: MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies aged 46
“I had the addiction, the swearing, the no money in my pockets, the whole bit… And back then, if you’d asked me, or anyone I knew, what Australian food was, I’d have struggled to tell you.”
The star – who went on to become a best-selling author and kind-hearted philanthropist, not to mention a TV household name, had bleakly admitted that in Scotland back then, his future had been perilous.
“I was headed on a one-way road towards a pine box or a prison cell – there’s no other way to describe it,” he grimaced.
However, he admitted on an episode of Masterchef: “A pure chance encounter with an indigenous Australian playing the didgeridoo changed my life entirely.”
The busker, named Jimmy, instilled him with a deep passion that he could “never have seen coming… This deep need to explore the real Australia and its real traditional and ancient foods.”
Though he’d previously been a heroin addict always desperately seeking out his next fix, the healing power of Australia helped him tackle his addiction head-on.
He gave himself his last injection of the drug on the plane on his way to start a new life in Australia – and he never took the drug again.
Sadly for Jock, there were residual issues from his past, including a sense of imposter syndrome that led him to regularly fear he wasn’t “good enough”.
He always kept worry beads with him to try to offset his mental health struggles, and bought numerous pairs to match with suits of various different colours.
Meanwhile, the star, who had four children, also found healing through living a simple lifestyle at home with them whenever he had the chance.
“Rolling around in the carpet, playing with LEGO or cars with the kids or whatever – that for me definitely reduces my anxiety,” he told Australian publication New Idea.
“I think it’s a super effective tool. I don’t know if that’s because you feel more love and everything at the time and that’s what helps?”
His family paid tribute to him in an emotional statement today, begging for privacy as they began the grieving process.
“With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away,” they wrote.
“For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you have your next whisky.”
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