Penny Lancaster breaks silence on Rod Stewart taking apart 'bully' Gregg Wallace

Penny Lancaster appeared on Thursday's Loose Women, days after her husband Sir Rod Stewart took aim at Gregg Wallace with a cutting social media post which went viral

13:39, 12 Dec 2024Updated 15:17, 12 Dec 2024

Penny Lancaster has broken her silence after her husband Rod Stewart defended her from "bully" Gregg Wallace in a recent viral social media post.

It comes as Wallace, 60, who hosts the hit BBC cooking series, stepped down from his role recently while the complaints are investigated. Wallace has been accused of making "inappropriate sexual jokes" amongst other behavioural complaints, as the presenter's lawyer stands firm: "It is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature."

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Earlier this month, Wallace had expressed regret for his remarks suggesting complaints about his conduct came from "a handful of middle-class women of a certain age".

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Rod Stewart previously defended wife Penny Lancaster from Gregg Wallace(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Annabel's)

Meanwhile, amid the claims, Penny's husband Rod, 79, took to his Instagram where he wrote in a post shared with his 1.5million followers: "Good riddance Wallace... You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn't you? You're a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully. Karma got ya. Sir Rod Stewart."

Penny, who took part in Celebrity MasterChef in 2021 and reached the quarter final, appeared on Thursday's Loose Women where she broke her silence about the recent reports.

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Penny Lancaster broke her silence after her husband Rod Stewart defended her from 'bully' Gregg Wallace in a recent viral social media post(Image: ITV)

She said: "Yeah, without going into details, I didn't realise my husband had sent that post out until it was out so you can imagine the influx of inquiries.

"I most definitely was witness and victim to some of the bullying and harassment behaviour of Gregg Wallace. Unfortunately, a lot of those involved in the production team were also witness to that.

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"I really feel that he used his position of power to, I believe, intimidate and cause distress to a lot of people on set, it's really unfortunate that someone like him is allowed to get away with that while others would stand by and let it happen at the same time.

Gregg refused to eat Penny's food on MasterChef(Image: BBC)

"I think my husband, when he heard the first people talking about some of the disturbing behaviour, he couldn't hold back I guess. Protective husband thought: 'I'm not going to stay silent, I need to say something' as he realised how upset I was at the time but I haven't gone into details of what it was."

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Talking about the moment she learnt of Rod's post, Penny admitted: "I was actually on jury service, you have to turn your phones off completely, I was off-grid for a period of time. When I did turn my phone back on, I got a message from a friend saying: 'Oh my God, how amazing was that message your husband put out?" and I'm like: 'What message?' Quick, what's he done!

It comes as Wallace, 60, who hosts the hit BBC cooking series, stepped down from his role recently while the complaints are investigated(Image: BBC)

"I was in shock and then I thought of all the repercussions from that but at the same time a day or two afterwards I felt a little bit vindicated that something was put out there..." she added: "It's shocking to think how many women do suffer in the hands of men in powerful positions and are too afraid to talk out."

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Penny pointed out that it can sometimes take a few years later for people and other victims to come forward.

Gregg Wallace's representatives have been contacted for comment.

Loose Women continues on weekdays at 12:30pm on both ITV and ITV X.