EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: TV chef Gizzi Erskine says sexist verbal abuse from male colleagues made her quit restaurants

Mystery is shrouded in why aristocratic TV chef Gizzi Erskine pulled down the shutters on the trendy seaside cafe she ran with former Libertines frontman Carl Barat, 45, last December – just a year after opening.

But now the Cook Yourself Thin author, whose late father was the 2nd Baron Erskine of Rerrick, has revealed she was brought to the boiling point in all her business ventures by what she claims was a barrage of sexist verbal abuse from her male colleagues.

“Pretty much every business partner I’ve had has been male and every time I’ve been told I was too passionate. I had a chef I worked with who called me a megalomaniac and I thought, ‘Am I that person?’ I was like, that’s the absolute height of selfishness and I never want to be seen that way.

‘After that I wanted to leave. That… is about 90 percent of why I retired from my business.” She adds, “That’s where cancel culture has taken us now – where you can take away everyone’s absolute passion and love and joy for what they do by portraying that person in that way.

“I’ve been called hysterical, witch and all the derogatory words to call a woman.”

Gizzi’s ventures include a location at London’s Mare Street Market in 2018 with Barworks founder Marc Francis-Baum, who filed for bankruptcy the same year.

Much fanfare surrounding the opening of the Love Cafe or ‘sandwich bar on steroids’ in Margate in 2021, which she founded together with Barat. But the following year, Ms Erskine quit as chef, explaining that it evolved into something she was ‘not entirely happy with’.

Then the pizza delivery company that Giz’N’Green had founded together with rapper Professor Green also went bankrupt.

Ms Erskine now plans to concentrate on writing her memoirs. She tells the We Recover Loudly podcast: ‘My low point was losing businesses because I had invested all my personal money. I’m certainly not going into the catering industry anytime soon.’

A spokesman for Barat said: ‘Everything was amicable with Carl and Gizzi.’

Doctor Who’s Trials of Time

Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker has gone from time travel to serving time as she plays an imprisoned mother of three who shares a cell with a murderer and a heroin addict.

What’s her secret to tackling such a demanding role in the second series of BBC prison drama Time?

‘Wine. I find it very difficult,” she tells me at a BFI screening in London. Jodie, who is married to Zero Dark Thirty star Christian Contreras, explains: ‘At the end of most days I need a lot of monologues to get it all out.

“If you’re going through a scene and you’re crying your eyes out, we’ll go through that.”

She adds: ‘I’m an absolute nightmare to live with.’

Jaime marries her leading man in Sicily

While this photo may look like a scene from a romantic movie, actress Jamie Winstone is indeed married to her real-life Prince Charming: DJ James Suckling.

The couple exchanged vows during a star-studded ceremony – dubbed the wedding of the year – in Sicily.

More than 250 guests – including Jaime’s father, Hollywood hardman Ray Winstone and actress Sheridan Smith – attended the wedding.

Jaime, 38, was seen in her white embroidered wedding dress, sitting on her new husband’s lap at their reception.

The newlyweds, who got engaged at Glastonbury last year, have a son, Raymond, aged five.

Football Barbie’s striking new look

If you thought Barbie mania had been put to bed, think again, because the iconic franchise has just introduced a new model in the form of no-nonsense Ted Lasso football boss Rebecca Welton, played by Hannah Waddingham.

The doll, which retails for £51, bears an uncanny resemblance to the character of Waddingham, owner of fictional AFC Richmond.

Welton’s Barbie is seen wearing the same chic champagne blouse as in the sitcom, with custom-made pants and black pumps.

The Mission Impossible star’s four-letter outburst is wowing fans

Potty-mouthed Simon Pegg left a crowd stunned at the London Literary Festival after insulting a female fan for trying to persuade him to break the rules governing the Hollywood actors’ strike.

During a Q&A for actor Nick Frost’s new book, A Slice Of Fried Gold: Taste My Memories, at the Royal Festival Hall, the Mission Impossible star, 53, issued a stern warning, saying: ‘Due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA attack, Nick won ‘unable to answer questions about his film and television work.’

Then, in response to a woman shouting “Hot Fuzz 2!” Referring to the highly anticipated sequel to Pegg and Frost’s 2007 comedy action film Hot Fuzz, he replied: ‘F*** you! What did I just say?’

An audience member says: ‘It was a bit inappropriate. We know he has to take the attacks seriously, but there was no need for him to use such an insult against that poor fan.”

I hear congratulations are in order for keen rider Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, who has given birth to a baby girl called Elodie.

“One month of motherhood and what a month it has been,” says Lady Tatiana, the daughter of King Charles’ cousin, the Marquess of Milford Haven. “Elodie arrived on September 20 and things are already moving far too quickly,” she adds.

Lady Tatiana’s new arrival is her first child with her banker husband Alick Dru.

Take a moment to spare a thought for comedian Omid Djalili, who bravely takes the stage in Londonderry on Tuesday evening.

His performance will come just a few days after he was forced to cancel an appearance due to personal security threats he received in connection with the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Djalili, 58, born in London to Iranian parents, was due to appear in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

“Having lived in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, I never thought I’d ever say, ‘I’m going to Northern Ireland to perform because it’s much safer,’ but here we are,” says Djalili.