My marriage with Gregg Wallace was 'hellish and lonely' there is one sad reason I stayed

Denise Lovell was married to Gregg Wallace from 1999 until 2004 and was interviewed about their time together in 2012 - with her claims only now being printed seven years after she died

The late wife of Gregg Wallace has painted a sad picture of the under fire TV star in an interview that has been published posthumously.

Denise Lovell was the second wife of MasterChef star Gregg, 60 - who has been married a total of four times. The couple were married in 1999 after eight years of being together, but they divorced in 2004.

Over the course of their 13 year relationship, Denise and Gregg welcomed a son named Thomas in 1994 and a daughter named Libby in 1997. Denise was at the TV star's side while his fortunes changed from being the owner of a successful green grocer company and as his media career began.

But while she was in a romance with Gregg - who has been furiously denying allegations of sexual inappropriateness in light of a string of claims made against him - things were far from perfect despite the changing fortunes of his business. Former pastry chef Denise, who died in 2017, made claims her marriage to Gregg was "utter hell" in an interview conducted in 2012.

The Daily Mail has now published the interview, revealing why Denise remained with the star despite her seemingly unhappy marriage. She had spoken to the publication at a time when Gregg's third marriage to biology teacher Heidi Brown, who he met via social media, was breaking down.

Denise said: "If my own experience is anything to go by it will have been utter hell and very, very lonely." Giving insight into her own marriage to the star, Denise claimed: "Gregg was always in charge of the money. He gave me a housekeeping allowance, but he controlled all the finances."

This proved to be an issue when their marriage collapsed in 2004 as Denise was left without an income after quitting her own work to be the main carer for her children. Reflecting on the rockiest moments of her marriage to Gregg, she recalled confronting him over fears he had been unfaithful and, she said, he replied: "Babes, I've only been to a prostitute." And when she discovered he had an affair with one of his work colleagues, she decided to end the marriage for good.

Denise told the publication that she threw Gregg out of the family home and that the only possession he took was a box of 'dirty magazines', leaving behind all of his designer clothing, which she then gave away to charity. However, Denise added: "I put up with it because of the children. I had nowhere to go. I felt completely desperate. Even though I'd worked for years, I had nothing of my own by then. I just tried to focus on being a mother.'

Gregg himself wrote in his 2012 autobiography Life On A Plate: "As long as I was home when the children woke up in the morning, she could overlook the other women. That was the rule. There was her life, there was my life and there were holidays together." The Mirror has contacted a representative of Gregg for comment.

The MasterChef star was first married to a woman named Christine in 1991, however, this marriage lasted just six weeks. His third marriage, to Heidi, ended in 2012 after 15 months. He met fourth wife, Anne-Marie Sterpini, via X in 2013 and they married in 2016 and share a son named Sid who was born in 2019.

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