Lauren Zonfrillo has sat down with Liz Hayes (right) for her first TV interview about her husband’s death. Photo / Seven
Lauren Zonfrillo has sat down with Liz Hayes (right) for her first TV interview about her husband’s death. Photo / Seven
Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren sat down for a candid interview about his death — and faced a difficult question about the lingering mystery.
LateMasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo’s widow Lauren has sat down for her first interview since his death, speaking to veteran journalist Liz Hayes for a Spotlight special that will air on Seven this Sunday.
And a newly released teaser for the interview suggests Lauren may offer an answer to the biggest mystery surrounding her husband’s death almost two years ago: exactly how he died.
Jock, 44, 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 death had been completed by the coroner, but the findings would remain private unless his family decided to share them.
“Jock, just wake up. Just wake up, open your eyes, give me something, anything,” she says.
“I told him it would be okay … like, ‘I’ve got this’.”
Lauren also appears to speak regarding her own feelings of guilt after her husband’s death, telling Hayes that she’d asked herself: “Could I have been a better wife? Did I love him enough? Did I do enough?”
Zonfrillo’s body was discovered at Zagame’s House hotel on Lygon Street, near Melbourne’s CBD, in the early hours of May 1, 2023.
Lauren and Jock on their wedding day. Photo / Instagram
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 is survived by Lauren and their two young children — Alfie and Isla — who were on holiday in Rome at the time of his death. It’s understood 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 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“At the close of the investigation, the coroner determined that the finding would not be published,” the spokesman said.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.
Till Death Do Us Part, slated for a May release, is designed to help others find comfort through their own experience of pain and suffering.
Lauren’s Spotlight interview marks former 60 Minutes correspondent Hayes’ first project since joining Seven as a guest correspondent for the programme.
