John Torode has detailed how he supported his wife Lisa Faulkner through her health battles, following her recent cancer ordeal. The former MasterChef host compared her cancer battle to "grief", explaining how the experience had changed their lives.
Lisa announced that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer back in July, later telling her Instagram followers that she had undergone "quite a big op". She added that she still had "quite a bit of healing to do. But I'm good, I'm well. And feeling so much better".
Podcast revelations
Speaking on the Spooning With Mark Wogan podcast, John said: "Bodies change forever, life changes forever, thoughts change forever." Host Mark Wogan then touched on the impact of menopause on women, adding: "[It] just sort of catapults you into that next stage of life as a woman you're kind of like, 'Oh', there's no slow into that, it's like, 'There you go, there's some menopause for you'."
John replied: "Yeah and it's brutal and, you know, as somebody once said, the cancer word comes up and everything pales in significance, everything. It doesn't matter what goes on from now on, that's it. We're going to deal with this and life will start all over again and, you know, I've always been an optimist."
Supporting through treatment
The 61-year-old also revealed that losing his role on MasterChef came at a time when he was able to dedicate more time to supporting Lisa through her cancer treatment. Reflecting on the past year, he continued: "For all that's gone on over the last sort of 12 months or so, I've been really fortunate to have the time off to actually be there with her and to sort of be able to guide ourselves through that time."
The chef also highlighted the importance of men understanding what their partners may be going through, stressing that even the smallest gestures can make a difference. "Men should know a lot more about it, I believe there should be more education about it," he added.
Small gestures
He went on to explain how he focused on being there for Lisa whenever she needed him, whether that meant helping around the house or accompanying her to hospital appointments. "But all I could do really was be there for when she wanted something, whether that would be make a bed, a cup of tea, make something to eat, feed her, you know, whatever, wash her hair, it didn't really matter, take her to a hospital, just hold onto her, it didn't really matter what it was but having that time off has been a bit of a blessing really," he added.
