Gregg Wallace has revealed that his autistic son Sid, now seven years old, remains non-verbal and still uses nappies, as he criticises the insufficient support available for families with neurodivergent children. The former MasterChef host, 61, and his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini, 38, known as Anna, first disclosed Sid's diagnoses of autism and global developmental delay in 2022.
Instagram Update
On Saturday, Gregg took to Instagram to provide fans with an update on his son, sharing a sweet photo of Sid and Anne-Marie at home. Alongside the image, he wrote: "This is our little Sid. He has just turned seven he is non-verbal and still in nappies. Expert help and advice is not easy to find as any parent of a neurodivergent child will tell you. That is why we set up AltogetherND.co.uk."
Previous Progress
In 2024, Gregg had proudly shared Sid's communication progress, posting a video of his son counting to ten with his grandmother. Captioning the clip "Sid & Nonna" and tagging the UK national charity Ambitious About Autism, the video showed Sid sitting on his grandmother's lap and counting as they clapped together. At the end of the clip, Gregg and other family members could be heard cheering, sparking a wave of supportive comments from followers.
On Mother's Day in March, Gregg revealed that Sid had spoken his first words, sharing a video of his son reciting numbers from a Montessori Sensory Board and writing: "Sid is counting! It's his first words!"
Backlash Over Weekend Routine
The family's exciting update comes after Gregg hit back at what he deemed "unfair" backlash over his Saturday regime, where he had said he "wouldn't have chosen" to have his son. In February of that year, he detailed his typical weekend routine and his 5-stone weight loss and gym regime for The Telegraph's My Saturday column. However, during an Instagram live shortly after publication, Gregg became emotional due to the backlash, describing the comments as "cruel," "nasty," and "unfair."
Gregg and Anne-Marie married in 2016 and welcomed Sid three years later. Gregg clarified: "There are just two things I want to address here with Sid. People said 'So you spend an hour and a half with your son, but then spend two hours on your computer'. No - I'm with my son in the house all the time... I just didn't write down 'Had a tickle with Sid, playing around the living room' - you're not logging every minute of the day. I just logged the blocks. So, it didn't mean that's all I saw him that day."
He added: "If you're living in a house with someone, you're interacting with them all the time. Not only that - that is a snapshot of one Saturday. I hope that makes sense to everybody. And the other thing as well - and I'm almost going to cry over this - people saying that Sid was unwanted. It took us two years to conceive with Sid. Two years."
The TV personality explained that his wife Anna, who is 22 years younger than him, wanted a family, while he admitted he wouldn't have chosen to have children at his age before meeting her. Gregg was already a single parent with two children whom he brought up on his own, and he confessed that he and Anna almost went into fertility treatment before she fell pregnant with Sid. He concluded that the comments have been "cruel," "nasty," and "unfair," and that the interview was "innocent," reminding fans that everyone is human and that he was "deeply saddened."
