Gino D’Acampo, 45, has been married to wife Jessica Morrison for almost 20 years, however, there was a time during the early days of their courtship where the Italian chef questioned their relationship and took a year break from his long-time love. The former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner previously admitted it was “important” they had time apart before settling down, as otherwise he “always would have wondered”.
Opening up on the temporary break-up, Gino shared: “I would always have wondered.”
However all the break did was reassure the chef he had made the right decision with his first love, he added: “They say the grass is greener, but it’s not.
“You might have longer grass or shorter grass, but it’s not necessarily greener grass,” he added in a 2010 interview with Independent Ireland.
It was Jessica who prompted the move to the UK, a decision that Gino credits as being crucial to the development of his career.
READ MORE: Janette Manrara ‘begging’ Strictly bosses to let her back
Here, he believes, was the only place he could have found such an appreciative audience.
Gino said his marriage to Jessica, who he met aged 18, works on a “matter of trust” and he was given “a lot of freedom” from “day one”.
Speaking to Weekend magazine in 2019, Gino said: “When I met my wife I realised she was an extremely generous, clever woman.
“If you try to cage men it won’t work. I can do pretty much what I want. If I say, ‘I’m taking friends out’ she doesn’t say, ‘But you’ve been away for the past week’. There’s no point having a man around if he doesn’t want to be there.”
Gino has been with Jessica, who is half-English, half-Italian, for 26 years, after the pair met while working in Sylvester Stallone’s restaurant in Marbella, Spain.
The couple, who tied the knot in 2002, share three children together: Luciano, 19, Rocco, 16, and Mia, nine, with the family spending lockdown fishing and on boats.
The star rose to prominence on I’m A Celebrity in 2009, which he won, and later went on to become a favourite on This Morning.
He now hosts Family Fortunes and gave an exciting career update this week as he prepared to launch a new food range.