Former MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong has revealed a lifelong struggle with anxiety and depression.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast, the 42 year old foodie revealed that the struggle had been with her for ‘as long as I could remember.’
‘Anxiety and depression for me goes hand-in-hand,’ Melissa explained.
‘It’s a lovely swings and roundabouts situation, where, inevitably, if I’m fine with one then I’m experiencing the other, and there’s a moment of bliss in between when neither of them are touching me.’
Melissa, who was born in Sydney after her parents migrated from Singapore, added that mental health was not as recognised in Asian culture when she was growing up.
‘In Asian culture, mental health is or was not at the time really recognised.
‘It’s just you were referred to as being difficult or a difficult child, you were being petulant, or you were being moody, or something like that.’
Melissa said the is lifelong need to clearly articulate feelings is what led her into a ‘world of words.’
Former MasterChef Australia judge Melissa Leong has revealed a lifelong struggle with anxiety and depression on the mental As Anyone podcast
She also rubbished the stereotype that people struggling with anxiety were shy and less likely to take on jobs in the public eye.
‘I’ve really worked hard to make myself understood on any platform that I can muster,’ Melissa insisted.
‘So I think very early on, I really tried to find the words to explain these, this like maelstrom of feelings going on.
‘Anxiety and depression for me goes hand-in-hand,’ Melissa explained
‘I think the misconception about anxiety is that if you’re an anxious person you wouldn’t be doing a job that’s so public, or you wouldn’t be able to moderate a Q&A with Jamie Oliver to a sold out Opera House or something like that. It is just not true.’
She continued: ‘A lot of us grapple [with anxiety] and we hold down any number of different kinds of high functioning jobs. It is just a part of who we are.’
Melissa shocked fans when left MasterChef Australia last year under a cloud of suspicion about an alleged feud with her former co-host Andy Allen.
‘Anxiety and depression for me goes hand-in-hand,’ Melissa explained.
Following revelations of backstage tensions between Leong and crew members employed by Ten’s production partner Endemol Shine in 2022, came news she was no longer in the MasterChef Australia line-up.
However, according to a well-placed insider, Melissa could be eyeing off a return to MasterChef, with one very interesting proviso.
‘Melissa told Ten that she’ll go back to MasterChef Australia when Andy Allen goes,’ a TV insider told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I think the idea of returning to what the show once was for her seems a bit daunting and the only way Melissa would ever return is if the whole format was revamped.’
Melissa’s departure came after claims she had been axed following a string of publicised off-camera dramas.
She infamously had a blow up with the program’s hair and make-up team along with a substitute freelance hairstylist in 2022.
‘Andy has no beef with Leong,’ the source told Daily Mail Australia. ‘But he previously expressed his former colleague wasted a lot of time in hair and makeup.
‘He felt her control over what was filmed was compromised by her perfectionism.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk