From cooking king to king of the cookers: Inside TV chef Pete Evans’ oddball bond with Trump sidekick Robert F. Kennedy Jr – after they were both ‘cancelled’
Former TV chef Pete Evans has opened up about his brutal fall from grace after being canceled and viciously harassed about ‘wanting to kill babies’ – and how it is the key to his lasting bond with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The former My Kitchen Rules host said he quickly went from ‘the boy next door’ to a ridiculous conspiracy theorist after speaking out against big pharmaceutical companies and processed food.
“The real kind of seizures that happened to me were when I started talking about nutritional principles, right?” said Evans in an extraordinary interview with popular radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.
‘I was the boy next door on TV and then I suddenly said, ‘You can actually improve your health if you eat organic food, good quality meat and seafood and avoid processed foods.’
“As soon as I started saying that, and the books became number one bestsellers… the attacks started happening because… it disrupts the systems that are set up to keep people sick.
“It’s like, ‘We have to stop this, we have to stop this now.’
Evans agreed with Sandilands’ suggestion that “big companies were asking, how are we going to shut this guy up?”
He said his cancellation was caused by the same commercial entities now targeting RFK Jr following his selection by Donald Trump as US Health Secretary.
‘100% [that’s what happened]just like they do with Bobby,” he said.
Pete Evans and Robert F Kennedy Jr have forged a close friendship and are releasing a new cookbook together in an effort to tackle America’s devastating childhood obesity epidemic
The chef opened up about his brutal fall from grace to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson
Kennedy is one of Donald Trump’s most trusted allies and his choice for US Secretary of Health
Kennedy, who has pledged to overhaul America’s health organizations if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, wants to focus in part on solving the childhood obesity epidemic by better educating people about healthy eating.
“It’s a damn good idea and it’s so simple, it’s common sense,” Evans said.
“Bobby has been celebrated over the years — he was, you know, Time’s Hero of the Year when he cleaned up New York’s waterway system — and he’s won huge lawsuits against chemical companies.
“So he was once the darling… until he pretty much touched children’s health and things like that disrupt the system, that’s there, so to speak.”
Evans’ comments came after Daily Mail Australia revealed this week that the TV presenter and chef had teamed up with Kennedy to launch a new culinary guide for children.
The Evans-authored cookbook, Healthy Food for Healthy Kids, claims it will feature 120 “paleo- and keto-friendly meals your child will love” when it is published on January 28 by Kennedy’s activist group Children’s Health Defense.
Evans credited his close friend RFK Jr with personally putting together the deal after announcing the upcoming launch to his 41,000 followers on the Telegram messaging app.
He talked about the high-profile collaboration and said he was the one who brought the idea of working on a cookbook together to Kennedy.
Evans this week credited Kennedy with personally connecting him with a publishing deal for his latest cookbook that focuses on the unhealthy eating habits of children
The chef was once one of Australia’s most bankable stars, earning $800,000 a year from hit Channel Seven reality show My Kitchen Rules, alongside co-host Manu Feildel
I asked [RFK Jr]“I said, ‘I’d like to work with Children’s Health Defense,’ the nonprofit he founded,” he told Sandilands and Henderson.
“I said, ‘I have so many recipes.’ [but] I got canceled in Australia. Can we partner with Children’s Health Defense to release a book to help parents?”
The release marks Evan’s first return to culinary writing since his former publisher, Pan MacMillan, scrapped his book deal amid its brutal cancellation.
It also comes after his last similarly themed recipe book aimed at children, Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way, was met with widespread controversy and was canceled by the publishing house amid claims it was a restrictive and potentially deadly diet promoted.
Evans said he was forced to self-publish the book, co-written with nutritionist Helen Padarin and blogger Charlotte Carr, after his critics jumped on one recipe for a “baby-building bone broth.”
“Let me make one thing clear: We have always promoted breast milk as the best milk for children,” Evans said.
‘But they (the media) decided to claim that ‘Pete wants to give children bone broth instead of breast milk’, so that’s immediately a lie.
‘Once they squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube, it’s very difficult to put it back in because even today people say, “Oh, he’s that guy who wants to kill babies because he doesn’t want them to have breast milk.” to get.”
Evans’ upcoming return marks the former TV star’s return to culinary writing
The cancellation made Evans appreciate his “amazing life” with his wife Nicola even more
‘Drink breast milk if you can… there was a recipe in the book that we presented, which was from Sally Fallon’s book called Nourishing Traditions, which has been around for so long, and we were looking for an alternative to formula for children who could’ Do not take breast milk or formula.
“Is there anything else we can give a baby?” We have actually reduced the amount of liver [in the recipe] because that was the questionable thing.
“It’s just another option or a solution for people who want to keep their babies alive.”
Evans had both his Facebook and Instagram accounts deleted by the social media giant after it accused him of “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines” at the height of the pandemic.
But the fallen star said he never tried – nor wanted – to influence the thought processes of others.
“The last thing I want to do is force anyone to think a certain way,” he said.
‘That’s the last thing I would ever do. I firmly believe that everyone has a free will to choose, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.
“I’m just saying: pay attention, educate yourself.”
The retired TV chef says he was also inspired by Trump’s wise words
While Evans’ “cancellation” cost him a lot, he says it helped him appreciate what was really important.
“I have a great life: I have a beautiful wife, great kids, healthy kids,” he said.
‘I like what Trump once said: sometimes you have to lose everything to come back, but also to see things as they are.
“And I’ve always trusted this process and I think: trust, surrender, accept – and stick to your core values, which I always have.
‘I feel like sometimes you have to go through it to see and feel it.
‘We have to trust our own intuition, our own instructions.’
As for his future, Evans said he was currently focusing on his upcoming cookbook with Kennedy but had not ruled out making a comeback in his home country later.
“What’s going to happen over the next 10 years is people are going to ask more questions,” he told Sandilands and Henderson.
‘Why are so many people sick, despite all the technological advances that have taken place in science and medicine?
“And I honestly believe there’s a simple solution to this, you know: provide good food… and education has to be part of that.
‘The tide is turning… you never know, maybe we’ll write another book here in Australia, or whatever.’