Former Masterchef judge Matt Preston breaks his silence on bombshell family secret – and how he broke the news to his children

Former Masterchef judge Matt Preston has recalled the moment he shared a surprising family secret to his children.

The UK-born food critic, 62, lifted the lid on his heritage in an interview with Stellar magazine this weekend, explaining that he was born to parents Jennifer and Michael, before being adopted by his mother’s second husband Antony. 

Preston didn’t reveal his biological father’s identity with his own kids Jonathan, 23, William, 20, and Sadie, 18, until last year after he pulled out two birth certificates while at an airport. 

‘You’re always looking for the right moment [to reveal the truth] and there was something so perfectly wrong about that moment,’ Preston explained. 

‘What’s fascinating is we always make a big thing of it – oh, that’s a surprise, or that’s a big family shock or a scandal – but is it really? So many families have stories like this’.

It comes after the food critic, who appeared on My Restaurant Rules in 2004 before becoming a household name when MasterChef Australia launched in 2009, admitted that he didn’t deal well with his sudden fame. 

The influx of attention and special treatment went to his head, the television personality now admits. 

‘I had that thing of going from hardworking writer and then suddenly you fly to the country and the guys scanning the bags know you and the passport control guy knows you’ he told Stellar magazine back in July.

The UK-born food critic lifted the lid on his heritage in an interview with Stellar magazine this weekend, explaining that he was born to parents Jennifer and Michael, before being adopted by his mother’s second husband Antony 

Preston didn’t reveal his biological father’s identity with his own kids Jonathan, 23, William, 20, and Sadie, 18, until last year after he pulled out two birth certificates while at an airport 

‘I don’t think I dealt with it very well. I became a bit of a d***head, but it was very, very instructive.’

Matt said that he was less effected by the success of MasterChef than his first brush with fame on My Restaurant Rules, but nonetheless his rise was meteoric. 

‘I think the other thing that happened is that it took off so quickly and we had no idea what was happening’ he said. 

‘Suddenly it’s the number-one show in the history of reality television. And then next year it eclipses that. 

‘Your friends, the people who know you, that doesn’t change. But the whole world moves a metre to the right.’

Read more in this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine