MasterChef judge John Torode has spoken out about his ‘awful’ accident in 2016 for the first time.
The celebrity chef, 59, was hospitalised over Christmas eight years ago, and had a ‘lucky escape’ and was ‘very bruised’, it was said at the time.
He’s now opened up more about the horse riding accident, where he was thrown off the saddle twice.
Thankfully, though he was battered and bruised, John was lucky not to have been more seriously injured.
‘I felt like I had nine lives after I fell off,’ he’s now said in a new interview.
His wife Lisa Faulkner added to The Mirror: ‘He got thrown off twice. It was pretty awful.’
At the time, Lisa had shared the news of John’s medical emergency with a picture of him in hospital surrounded by monitoring equipment.
She said little about the accident, but reassured fans that he was recovering.
‘Thank you so much to the lovely docs and nurses yesterday #stmaryshospitalpaddington for looking after my @johntorodecooks, who is very bruised but doing well!’ she said, adding: ‘#luckyescape #blessed.’
She shared the picture on Boxing Day, just hours after John had revealed they’d been enjoying a ‘Claridges Christmas’, describing Lisa as ‘happy as a happy thing on happy days’.
He later told fans on social media: ‘I really am OK everyone.’
‘Just took a tumble whilst out riding, & posted photo to thank the Docs, nurses and all at St Mary’s.’
‘Thank you for all your lovely get well wishes,’ Lisa also said. ‘John is well and happy and sitting on the sofa and all is good.’
John and Lisa first met when the former Holby City star won Celebrity MasterChef in 2010.
They began dating in 2012, after Lisa’s divorce from her husband Chris Hoghill, and got engaged on Christmas Day in 2018.
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They share five children together from their previous relationships, including Lisa’s adopted daughter Billie, and John’s four children from two former marriages.