Gregg Wallace ‘close to tears’ as he hits back at ‘bad dad’ accusations-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

Gregg Wallace has hit back at ‘bad dad’ criticisms (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Gregg Wallace has hit back at ‘nasty’ backlash to comments that saw him accused of being ‘a bad dad and husband’, in a video that reportedly saw him close to tears.

The MasterChef star raised eyebrows after he revealed his Saturday routine over the weekend, which involved going to the gym – where staff let him in ahead of everyone else – heading to the local Harvester for breakfast and his wife having lunch ‘ready on the table’ when he gets back.

He also made the confession that having his youngest son Sid, four, as an older father in his 50s ‘isn’t something that I would have chosen at my age’, while his mother-in-law moved in after he requested they ‘had help in the house’.

Gregg also explained that he spends 90 minutes playing with Sid, before two hours on his own playing Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, as he considers himself an ‘amateur historian’.

Many people have had quite forceful opinions on his revelations (that also included the reminder that he has ‘less than 18 per cent body fat and a six-pack’ after losing five stone), and Alan Patridge comparisons were flying about the place.

However, the 59-year-old has now broken his silence as he clarified his comments in a video posted to his Instagram and called the response to his Saturday routine, featured in The Telegraph Magazine, ‘unfair’.

He has a four-year-old son named Sid (Picture: Gregg Wallace/Instagram)

Gregg shares Sid with wife Anne-Marie Sterpini (Picture:@greggawallace/Instagram)

‘There are just two things I want to address here with Sid [Gregg’s son]. People said “So you spend an 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,’ he insisted, according to The Express.

‘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.’

Gregg also pointed out that if was living in the house with someone then ‘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,’ he shared.

The Masterchef star has been slammed for his parenting (Picture: Gregg Wallace/Instagram)

He was almost in tears after the criticism (Picture: Gregg Wallace/Instagram)

Moving onto the comments that had hurt him the most, Gregg tackled those who had accused him of being a reluctant father.

‘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’s wife Anna is 22 years younger than him, and Gregg explained that before he met her he had decided he didn’t want any more children, having been a single father to two already.

Calling the interview ‘innocent’, he also asked people to remember that he was a human, having been left ‘deeply saddened’ by the reaction.

Gregg took part in an unexpected photoshoot (Picture: Joe Pepler/PinPep)

On Thursday he then treated fans to the rather unexpected vision of him posing topless on a bed of thousands of rose petals, while clutching bunches of the flowers and with a cheeky grin on his face.

It is, of course, a recreation of the famous scene in American Beauty with actress Mena Suvari, whose character Angela Hayes is being fantasised over by her much-older neighbour Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey.

Gregg even provided some variation in his poses, including holding a rose in his mouth and one where he subtly pops his bicep while holding his arm above his head.

The star’s tongue-in-cheek photoshoot was in honour of Valentine’s Day, with him taking part in a campaign for SMARTY Mobile to give red roses away for free.

It comes after research claimed that Valentine’s Day is almost £100 more expensive than it was 10 years ago, with a bouquet of flowers, meal for two, card, bottle of perfume and a box of chocolates now setting you back an average of £281.

The American Beauty reenactment was for his new campaign (Picture: Joe Pepler/PinPep)

In 2014, it was approximately £199.

Former Inside the Factory presenter Gregg added: ‘I’m a huge romantic and I take any opportunity to celebrate the people I love.

‘A token of love is hugely important and no one should get ripped off on an occasion like Valentine’s Day. So I’m thrilled to be helping SMARTY Mobile tackle the cost of loving with free roses this weekend.’

Examples given of cost increases included a dozen red roses from Interflora now costing £66 rather than £44.99 and a 100ml bottle of Chanel No.5 eau de parfum now being priced at £123 instead of £92 as in 2014.

Gregg can be found handing out red roses to would-be romantics at Observation Point on Southbank at the Cost of Loving pop-up, from 12pm to 3pm on Sunday February 11.

Fans won’t have seen this side of Gregg before(Picture: Joe Pepler/PinPep)

His comments about his weekend routine have since caused an older, similar (but also *very* different in tone) piece from actor Tom Hollander to go viral.

User @PaulG284 shared the 2020 paper clipping of The Sunday Times’ A Life in the Day article featuring Tom, and wrote: ‘If you feel the need to decompress after reading the Day in the Life of Gregg Wallace, may I remind you of this masterpiece by Tom Hollander. Entertaining for completely opposite reasons.’

In it, the Pride and Prejudice actor candidly described how he would use his phone screen ‘to illuminate the target’ when he’s forced out of bed in the early hours to use the toilet.

Rather than go for a bike ride, he also said he was more likely to stay in for a good ‘masturbate and doze, or speculate on the extraordinary injustice of Philip Green’s knighthood, or look at that app that tells you which celebrity you most resemble (Tom Hardy)’. 

The performer later told Lorraine Kelly back in 2020 that rather than have his piece be ‘just one long boast’, he wanted to be ‘refreshing’ and ‘do one about how life is really for most people, or a version of it’.

Metro.co.uk has contacted a rep for Gregg Wallace for comment.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : Inside Christian Horner and Geri Halliwell’s lavish countryside estates and enviable car collection

MORE : Escape To The Country viewers are legitimately furious over young couple’s mega budget on first home

Entertainment – MetroRead More