MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace tied the knot three times before he fell for his current wife, Anne-Marie Sterpini, and found what he’d ‘always been searching for’. The happy couple have a son together
MasterChef star Gregg Wallace felt like he ‘won the lottery’ when he fell in love with his wife – but he’s not always been so lucky in marriage.
The TV personality, who has found himself in hot water amid reports he was investigated for making ‘inappropriate’ remarks to a female BBC employee, has been married to Anne-Marie Sterpini since 2016. The couple share a four-year-old son, Sid, and live with her parents.
As well as Sid, the 59-year-old star has two children, Libby and Tom, with his second wife, former pastry chef Denise, whom he was married to between 1999 and 2004. Before that, he tied the knot with his first wife, Christine, in 1991 – but their marriage only lasted six weeks.
Gregg was also married to Heidi Brown between 2011 and 2012 – which he later dubbed a ‘huge mistake’. Since getting married a fourth time, Gregg says Anna has changed his life for the better and helped him to lose five stone.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain in January this year, he explained: “That young woman has revolutionised my life, there’s a 22-year age gap, we have been together ten years and have a son, Sid, and I want to be there for them.”
The star has spoken candidly about his romance over the years and gave an insight into how he met Anna on Twitter. She asked him if rhubarb really went well with duck after seeing him try a recipe on a cooking show.
He previously told HELLO! Magazine: “I just looked at Anna’s photo and thought, ‘Wow, she’s pretty’. So yes, rhubarb, which was considered an aphrodisiac in medieval times, brought us together.”
He later shared more about their love story while appearing on ITV’s Lorraine, revealing he sent her a message on Twitter and they began messaging. “Then I sent her my phone number, this was five years ago,” he confessed.
However, Anna wasn’t certain that he was the real deal until they met up for the first time in person. “She came down to London to have dinner with me, and she said it wasn’t until we got to the restaurant, that she was comfortable it was really me and not an impostor,” he continued.
The pair tied the knot at Hever Castle in August 2016 after three years of dating, and said ‘I do’ in front of guests including John Torode, who was Gregg’s best man, Lisa Faulkner, Marcus Wareing, and Monica Galetti.
Speaking to Kate Thornton about love on the White Wine Question Time podcast, he said: “What has love taught me? That it is an absolute game of chance and that is it. It is a complete and utter lottery. I am very fortunate I got the winning ticket. I won the Euro Millions the day that young lady walked into my life.”
During the episode, Gregg also opened up about his three previous marriages, sharing how he also met another of his wives on Twitter. He explained that meeting people in real life at a bar was difficult given his fame. “It is because I am on television. I can’t walk into bars,” he said.
“You can’t chat anyone up at work because the HR department would sack you. What I like about Twitter is that it is not a dating site. You can just have friendly chats with people,” he told the host. “Did I have lessons from each one [of my marriages]? The first one lasted six weeks. I would say don’t marry anyone because you are worried about losing your house.
“So there is the first one. We bought a small house together in Bermondsey and then we broke up and I thought ‘Well this is terrible. What is going to happen to the house?’ I have worked so hard all my life, what is now going to happen? The second one we were together 14 years and the third one was a huge mistake. Probably the unhappiest I have ever been in my life but she was a teacher and was really good with the kids.”
Despite this being his fourth time down the aisle, Gregg was keen for everyone to know he was serious about his relationship and wasn’t rushing into another marriage. He told HELLO! Magazine: “Meeting Anna has brought me what I think I’ve always been searching for – that big, warm family dynamic and there’s real strength in that.
“I’m very conscious of people thinking I just do this willy-nilly. But we haven’t rushed into this – we’ve been together for three years and I truly have never met anyone like Anna.” The presenter went on to share how she was his ‘dream girl’ and is ‘beautiful inside and out’.
Since getting married, the couple have also spoken about their 22-year age gap, with Gregg making jokes about it from time to time – especially after the birth of their son, Sid, in May 2019.
Speaking on Loose Women, panelist Judi Love asked him what it was like to be an older dad and Gregg replied that he was happy that Anna has someone close to her age to keep her company. He joked: “Baby Sid. You haven’t met Mrs Wallace but I was really pleased she had a baby because it’s someone at home more her own age to talk to.”
