Loose Women star Penny Lancaster opened up about how she felt after her husband Rod Stewart issued a scathing response to Gregg Wallace’s firing.
Wallace departed MasterChef last month after a series of complaints were made to the BBC from individuals about historical allegations of misconduct being investigated.
After issuing his own statement and claiming that it was “middle-class white women” who had made the complaints, Stewart took to his Instagram where he unleashed a savage statement against the former BBC star.
Defending his former model wife, he penned to his 1.5 million followers: “So Greg Wallace gets fired from MasterChef. Good riddance Wallace…
“You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you? You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart.”
Just days later, the Maggie May singer issued another takedown of the MasterChef host after he was asked whether he would consider inviting Wallace to Christmas dinner.
Gregg Wallace has been accused of inappropriate behaviour
BBC
During a night out at London’s Claridges, he bluntly told photographers: “What, yellow teeth?”
Now, Lancaster has opened up about her husband’s statement and revealed she didn’t know he was planning on saying anything.
The heated criticism stemmed from Wallace’s alleged treatment of Stewart’s wife during her appearance on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Lancaster, who reached the quarter-final of the competition, was reportedly left in tears after Wallace’s harsh criticism.
Penny Lancaster claimed she was bullied during her time on the show
BBC
The incident centred around timing issues with Lancaster’s dish, with Wallace declaring at the time: “Mate, we can’t be 10 minutes late,” – leaving the host to refuse to eat her food.
Speaking on Stewart’s decision to say something publicly, Lancaster said on Loose Women today: “Yeah. Without going into details, I didn’t realise my husband had sent that post out until it was out and of course, you can imagine, the influx of inquiries there were.
“I most definitely was a witness and was victim to the bullying and harassment behaviour of Gregg Wallace.
“It’s obvious now that a lot of people have come forward and my husband, when he heard some of the people talking about the disturbing behaviour, he couldn’t hold back, I guess.
“A protective husband, he thought, ‘I’m not going to stay silent. I need to say something,’ because he realised how upset I was at the time. But I haven’t gone into details on what it was.”
Co-star Kaye Adams asked whether his post came as a surprise, leaving Lancaster to slightly giggle and reveal: “It was. I was actually on jury service so you have to turn your phone off completely.
“So when I turned my phone back on I got a message from a friend that was like, ‘Oh, my God! How amazing was that message your husband put out’, and I was like, ‘What message? What’s he done?’
“I was in shock and then I thought of all the repercussions from that but then a day or two afterwards, I felt a bit vindicated that something was put out there.”
Wallace’s lawyers say it is “entirely false” that he engaged in sexually harassing behaviour. Multiple women have come forward with specific allegations against Wallace.
