Gino D’Acampo, the popular TV chef, has shared a rare glimpse of his wife as they celebrate their 31st anniversary. This comes after The Sun reported that ITV bosses are gradually sidelining him due to allegations of “inappropriate behaviour.”
(Image: Gino D’Acampo)
However, Gino seems to be focusing on happier times, treating his wife Jessica to a romantic getaway. He shared several sweet photos of them together, captioning them: “31 years together and still smiling like our first date…….Happy Birthday amore mio…..”
Gino met Jessica, who is half-Italian and half-British, when he was just 18 and working at Sylvester Stallone’s Mambo King restaurant in Marbella. Their relationship had its ups and downs initially, leading to a year-long break up. However, this time apart only strengthened their bond, and they moved to the UK together in 1995 after reconciling.
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This celebration comes amidst allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a woman who worked with Gino between 2006 and 2011 on This Morning, where he was the resident chef, and on Saturday Cooks. It’s believed she decided to come forward following a series of allegations against BBC’s MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace.
Through the turbulence, his partner Jess has remained firmly by his side, even throughout a two-year incarceration in the late ’90s. The TV chef has previously expressed their relationship thrives due to traditional values and spending time apart.
He explained to Love Sunday: “Jessica and I don’t really spend any time together.” He believes the space they give each other is key: “I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve lasted for 20 years.
“It’s a good thing, I don’t really want to know everything my wife does, because otherwise she will be boring to me.” Embracing some aspects of ‘single life,’ even while married, is something Gino seems fond of, admitting he only talks to his wife for 20 minutes a week when travelling for work.
He advocates for balancing marital life with personal independence: “You need to balance your married life with your ‘single life’,” and noted the importance of solitary pursuits alongside conjugal unity, “But there has to also be a time when I do things by myself and when she does things by herself.”
He explained: “I can be away for a month and I will talk to my wife once a week for about 20 minutes. Then, when I come back, we can talk about it all.”
He added that he finds it baffling that some of his friends spend hours talking to their wives on the phone every day, saying: “Some of my friends talk with their wives for an hour and I’m thinking, ‘What the hell are you going to say to your wife every day for an hour that you can’t say when you’re in person?'”.