Gregg Wallace has revealed his secret battle with alcoholism, admitting he used to knock on the door of his local pub at 10am to start drinking. The MasterChef presenter, 56, said he would drink 'seven days a week' and that his dependency was at its worst shortly before he began hosting the show in 2005.
Speaking to MailOnline, Wallace described how he would drink from morning until night, often starting at The White Bear in Clerkenwell before the landlord had even opened. 'It got so bad at one point the owner used to let me in when he was still in his dressing gown,' he said. 'I'd be in there with the window cleaner, who was also a drunk, and a drunken lawyer and we'd start drinking at 10am.'
The presenter, who has been married four times, said his drinking was linked to loneliness and a desire to avoid being at home. 'I don't think the people out there boozing all the time are in a good mental state – I definitely wasn't. It means you don't want to go home,' he explained. At his heaviest, Wallace weighed 16.5 stone and was warned by his doctor that he was 'heading for a heart attack'. He has since lost four stone.
Wallace credited his fourth wife, Anna, with helping him develop a healthier relationship with alcohol. The couple met on Twitter in 2013 and share a one-year-old son, Sid. While he is not completely teetotal, Wallace said Anna taught him when to stop drinking, allowing him to enjoy a couple of drinks without overindulging.
