For most of us, preparing a meal with a straight-talking MasterChef judge would be an intimidating prospect. But not Lisa Faulkner, who loves nothing more than cooking with her husband, John Torode.
In an exclusive interview in Good Housekeeping's October issue, Lisa, who found love with John after appearing as contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2010, opened up about her personal life, including how their relationship developed.
'We went for dinner [on our first date] and it was just easy. We had time to talk and really get to know each other and we got on brilliantly,' she says.
'We took things really slowly because of Billie, and also because I’d been through the end of a marriage – we had a child and I felt I’d failed in something I never wanted to fail at. I never give up on anything, so when you do have to accept that something didn’t work, starting a new relationship is a big leap of faith.'
Now 52, Lisa co-hosts the popular ITV1 show John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen, which returns for its ninth series this September, with her husband, and the couple are releasing their first joint cookbook, John & Lisa’s Kitchen, featuring some of their favourite recipes from the show.
'Since we started filming our show, people have been asking, "When are you going to do a book?" It’s taken a while to make it happen, but we’re thrilled with it,' she says.
'It has recipes from the latest series and favourites from other series, too. John is a brilliant chef and I’m a home cook, but we both just want to make food everyone can enjoy. He’s never made me feel like I don’t know what I’m talking about. We’ve learned from each other – I’ll tell him tips or cheats that I have and he’ll say, "Actually, that’s good."'
Despite her success, it hasn’t been an easy journey for Lisa, and the challenges she’s faced – including losing her mum, experiencing infertility and divorcing her first husband, with whom she adopted her daughter, Billie, now 18 – have made Lisa all the more grateful for the life she has now.
Lisa was just 16 when her mum died of throat cancer and she explained that the grief never really goes away.
'When it’s immediate, it’s like a sick feeling you can’t get away from; and then you wake up one day and it’s a bit easier,' she says.
'You realise you can laugh about something they did or hear their voice without crying. And then, 20 years later, someone can ask you about it and you’ll feel this bubble rising up and you burst into tears.'
Lisa always wanted to become a parent herself, but the path to motherhood wasn't smooth. She went through three rounds of failed IVF and suffered an ectopic pregnancy at the age of 31.
'Those years were a very dark time. One minute I wasn’t that bothered about kids, apart from my nieces, and then something happened overnight and I wanted a baby so badly,' she says.
'All my peers were trying at the same time, so it was like we were swimming in the same pool, but they kept getting pregnant and climbing out until, eventually, I was still swimming in there alone.
'It was really lonely. When people would tell me they were pregnant I’d try to be fine, but I’d go home and be full of shame, anger and sadness. When I had IVF, it was with an amazing doctor with whom nine out of 10 patients got pregnant – and I was the one in 10 who didn’t. I thought, ‘Why me?’ It was exhausting.”'
Lisa adopted her daughter, Billy, when she was 17 months old and she shared what she wants others to know about the process.
'My daughter is my world, but adopting is a completely different ballgame in every way to conceiving a child. Even armed with every bit of knowledge you can find, it’s not easy, because you’re dealing with a child with trauma,' she says.
'It’s a trauma that will never, ever be healed, and my job is to be there to help make it better in every way I can. I’ve had to do a lot of work on myself. It’s an ongoing process; it doesn’t stop.'
Now 52, Lisa is looking to the future with positivity and revealed her goals for the rest of her 50s.
'I want to act more and keep cooking. There’s so much I’m enjoying about this stage: I’m loving being able to spend more time on my friendships, and that my relationship with my daughter isn’t just about parenting any more but about hanging out, too,' she says.
'Things are so black and white when you’re young, and when you’re older, you mellow and appreciate all the small moments more.'
Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s October issue on sale from 29th August. John & Lisa’s Kitchen (Quadrille) is out 12th September. John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen airs from Saturday 21st September at 11.40am on ITV1 and ITVX.