Yahoo News MasterChef The Professionals' Monica Galetti visited therapist during break from show
The 47-year-old chef was absent from the BBC cooking show in 2022 after admitting she was struggling to cope with all the things she had going on in her life.
Monica Galetti has revealed she visited a therapist for the first time while taking time away from MasterChef The Professionals.
The 47-year-old chef, restaurateur and TV judge was absent from the BBC cooking show in 2022 after admitting she was struggling to cope with all the things she had going on in her life.
Galetti has now told Gabby Logan's podcast The Mid Point: "I saw a therapist. I’ve never done that before.
Read more: MasterChef viewers complain contest is not the same without Monica Galetti
"I‘ve never had so many things happening at the same time, I needed to reach out to outside help - someone just to talk to with everything. That was one of the best things I did."
The celebrity chef had previously admitted it was a difficult decision to quit the show after 13 years but confessed she was in a dark place and "something had to give".
She has now said how much she is looking forward to returning to the new series of MasterChef in November after her time off.
Galetti added: "I feel more energetic, more excited to be back in it this year having had that time out."
The mother-of-one, who runs her own kitchen at Mere in London, decided to take time off to focus on her family and rebuilding her restaurant business after the affects of the coronavirus pandemic on the hospitality industry.
She also revealed that her nephew had been diagnosed with cancer.
She said at the time: "It is with a heavy heart that I’ve made this decision to step back from filming this year’s series of MasterChef: The Professionals.
"My family need me, my restaurant needs me and trying to balance long filming days over the next three months with all these commitments meant that something had to give.
"So, for the moment, my focus has to be 100 per cent about my loved ones and rebuilding my kitchen team who have had a battering over the last few months especially. Those in the hospitality industry know just how tough it is at the moment."
Galetti began her career as a professional chef working for Michel Roux Jr at his London restaurant Le Gavroche. She worked her way up to senior sous-chef before becoming head chef of La Gavroche in Mauritius.
She opened her own restaurant Mere in 2017 with her husband David, with whom she shares a daughter, Anais, born in 2006.
Galetti became a judge on MasterChef: The Processionals alongside Marcus Wareing and Michel Roux Jr in 2009 and has appeared on 13 series.
Read more: Monica Galetti stopped watching MasterChef because it gave her panic attacks
In 2022, while taking time off from MasterChef, she helped judge the Platinum Pudding competition to mark the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.
She also hosted Amazing Hotels with Rob Rinder on BBC.
Watch: Monica Galetti gives her tips on how to make a winning Platinum Pudding
