The eldest daughter of celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo has shared a heartwrenching tribute to her father in the wake of his tragic death.
Ava Zonfrillo, 22, shared a poignant tribute in memory of her dad three weeks after his passing on Sunday.
‘Still can’t accept that we’ll be remembering you for more time than we had you, but doesn’t mean we’ll love you any less.’ wrote Ava. ‘I love you dad, always.’
Ava’s tribute comes one week after Jock was laid to rest in a private funeral in Sydney surrounded by 200 family and friends.
Ava is the eldest daughter of Jock and first wife Amanda Ewing.
Much like her dad, Ava followed in his culinary footsteps working in hospitality public relations before moving into fashion working for communications agency AMPR.
Ava graduated from University of Technology Sydney 2019 and resides in Bondi Beach since 2021.
Pallbearers included his wife Lauren and co-host Andy Allen and attendees included included a Who’s Who of the Australian culinary scene.
Daily Mail Australia revealed police believe Zonfrillo died from natural causes, with the Coroner due to determine his final cause of death.
Ava (pictured), now 22, is the eldest of Jock’s four children. She shared a poignant tribute on Sunday evening – including this photo of her as a child with her dad
Ava has previously worked in hospitality publicity (above with Jock)
On Sunday, April 30, Zonfrillo had booked into the inner-city Zagame’s House in Melbourne above a wine bar in Lygon Street, Carlton. He was facing a big week of media commitments.
He had only recently returned to Australia from Italy after moving there with third wife Lauren and their children, five-year-old Alfie and two-year-old Isla, choosing the hotel for its proximity to where the family used to live.
While the rest of his family remained in Rome, the 46-year-old was preparing to promote the latest installment of MasterChef, which was due to debut at 7.30pm the following evening.
A packed diary of media appearances across television, radio and print was underway, backed up by a relentless whirl of social media posts across all major platforms.
The theme for the 15th season of the Network Ten showpiece was ‘Secrets and Surprises’ – and the publicity grind was about to crank up in earnest.
A packed diary of media appearances across television, radio and print was underway, backed up by a relentless whirl of social media posts across all major platforms.
It was all set to peak in a gruelling blitz starting with an interview at 7am on Monday ahead of that night’s glittering premiere.
Zonfrillo already had three seasons as host behind him and was well aware of the demands of filming 60-plus episodes of the show each year.
He had long ago shrugged off his troubled youth as a teenage heroin addict to reinvent himself as a world-famous chef and a natural TV star on MasterChef.
But Zonfrillo still battled demons, and carried worry beads with him at all times to help him cope with his anxiety and sometimes fragile mental health.
Fellow MasterChef judge Andy Allen is pictured carrying Zonfrillo’s coffin, which was covered with the Royal Banner of Scotland and adorned with white orchids
What the public didn’t know was that Zonfrillo had in recent years been suffering serious health issues, including a bowel cancer diagnosis.
How Zonfrillo spent Sunday afternoon and evening is unclear but that night he uploaded what would be his last Instagram post.
‘The time has come for @masterchefau to kick off a new season filled with Secrets & Surprises! And @jamieoliver of course!’ he wrote in the caption.
Sometime later, Zonfrillo responded to a fan in the comments section with what is believed to be his last public interaction on social media.
One of his followers commented how much their son enjoyed watching Zonfrillo on MasterChef and would often do impressions of his thick Glasgow accent.
‘Very exciting… (my son shouts out “Joooooock” every time you appear on the advert!!!! He is even practicing his Scottish accent!!!)’ they wrote.
Zonfrillo replied to this comment with a crying-with-laughter emoji.
The 97-bedroom hotel’s webpage on Booking.com promises visitors: ‘Get the celebrity treatment with world-class service at Zagame’s House’. A room is pictured
The Scottish chef uploaded this post on Sunday night promoting the cooking show, which was due to launch Monday at 7:30pm, but will now air on Sunday night with his family’s approval
‘The time has come for @masterchefau to kick off a new season filled with Secrets & Surprises! And @jamieoliver of course!’ Zonfrillo captioned his last Instagram post
The 97-bedroom hotel’s webpage on Booking.com promises visitors: ‘Get the celebrity treatment with world-class service at Zagame’s House’.
The elegantly-stylish but compact rooms – from $259 for a standard room up to $685 for one of the Nero Suites – offer a 24-hour desk clerk with a gym and a classy wine bar on the ground floor.
Its website adds: ‘All our team members are trained to ensure that your health, safety and comfort are our number one priority while you are staying at our House.’
Daily Mail Australia understands while Zonfrillo and his wife had a daily routine of scheduled communication and that he failed to make a call on Sunday evening.
Having been unable to reach her husband, Lauren called Victoria Police who sent officers to Zagame’s House about 2am to check on his welfare.
The police who were let into Zonfrillo’s room found him dead in his bed and saw no signs of anything unusual or suspicious.
There was no drug paraphernalia located, no one else in the room and police formed the view Zonfrillo had died of natural causes.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk