Lauren Zonfrillo has paid an emotional tribute to her late husband Jock Zonfrillo on what would have been his 50th birthday.

The widow of the late MasterChef judge posted a photo of the pair smiling together by the beach and honoured the chef, whom she was married to for six years and with whom she shared two children.

Her caption read: “On what would have been your 50th, Happy Birthday my love.”

“Our little family are eating lunch in the exact restaurant you would have chosen. Tears, plenty of laughter, and so many stories of Papa.

“Life will never be as it should have been, but we’re forging a new one, and it too is wonderful. Loz x.”

Jock’s close friend and fellow MasterChef judge Andy Allen responded in the comments, writing, “Sending so much love to you and the kids.”

The Scottish-born chef was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room in 2023 at the age of 46 after a welfare check was carried out when he did not respond to repeated calls and text messages from his wife. His cause of death has not been publicly announced, but it was not treated as suspicious.

Shortly before his death, Jock had finished filming MasterChef’s 15th season. He died just hours before its scheduled premiere, which Network 10 then chose to delay.

At the time, he had recently moved his family out of their Melbourne home and relocated to Rome. He was also beginning work on a new restaurant and was in the middle of writing a cookbook.

Lauren later spoke to Seven’s Spotlight program about learning of her husband’s death while she was in Rome with their two children, saying she became “hysterical”.

She has chosen to keep the circumstances of Jock’s death private, explaining that she would prefer to respect his memory rather than speak on his behalf after his death.

“A lot of people want to know the answer to that – I’m really aware of that. I’ve had a lot of experiences with people coming up to me, all strangers, and asking how Jock died. It’s very unsettling,” she said.

“Jock was very open in what he was willing to talk about. And I don’t want to make those decisions.”

After news of his death emerged, tributes poured in from international chefs, friends and his fellow MasterChef judges Andy Allen and Mellissa Leong.

Jamie Oliver wrote: “We had the best time working together. I can’t tell how good it was to work with him.”

Gordon Ramsey remembered him during an emotional interview with The Project TV, saying “no one’s going to get over this quickly. If there’s one thing that we’ve done as chefs, it’s that we’ve united”.

“He was never done as a chef. He still had years to go,” he added.

Melissa Leong said Jock was “always supposed to be the bulletproof one who outlived us all”.

“You showed me what true excellence looks like, both in the kitchen and outside of it. Your kindness and generosity, the many lives you’ve lived, the way you carried far more on your shoulders than most could ever know,” she added.

Andy Lee also paid tribute, writing, “Sure, you’ve taught me so much about food, but it’s the lessons I learnt about what it means to be a great father, husband and friend that I’ll take away from our time together and will last forever.

“I’ll miss the way you mentored me and every contestant that walked into the MasterChef kitchen. I’ll miss you ordering the entire menu, no matter how many dishes deep and making me eat every last bite.”