Loose Women has come under fire for ‘cutting off’ Gregg Wallace during his appearance on the show.
The MasterChef presenter, 58, joined the ladies’ ITV panel as a guest on Monday morning to talk about his son Sid, four, who has autism.
But when Gregg opened up about raising his son, who is non-verbal, with his wife Anna, Ruth Langsford had to step in and tell her to wrap up the conversation.
Gregg explained some background and said, “Yeah, you don’t know why they’re collapsing, the other day we thought he was nose bumping, but we don’t know because he can’t tell.”
“This is why we need some form of communication because we’re worried if he’s sick, we won’t know what it is, so there’s a lot of worry…” as Ruth interjected.
Awkward: Loose Women have come under fire after ‘cutting off’ Gregg Wallace during his appearance on Monday’s show where he discussed his child with autism
She said, “You and Anna will be so in tune with him, you know what I’m about to say, but Sid is lucky to have the two of you as parents who are so passionate about his future.”
Gregg replied, “Well, we love him dearly, he’s our little boy, whatever he needs…” before Ruth agreed again.
She said, “Gregg we have to leave it now, MasterChef and everything else great, you know we love it, but thanks for talking about that today.”
Gregg added, “May I call rapid weight loss, that’s it and me and Gregg James are going to do Celebrity Gogglebox, as Ruth said, ‘You just did that,’ before you wrap it up.”
And when they took to Twitter as the episode aired, fans were far from impressed.
One of them wrote: ‘Loose women always close off their guests. Maybe put on first.’
A second added, “I’d love to hear more about what Gregg Wallace had to say.
“Disappointing Ruth and co’s waffle was so unnecessary.”
Running out of time: When Gregg opened up about how he’s raising his son, who is non-verbal, with his wife Anna, Ruth Langsford had to step in and say she had to wrap up the conversation
A third question: “Why was Gregg cut off for no reason?”
A fourth added: “So sad that the panel spent all that time on stupid activities like making hats out of shopping bags instead of spending more time listening to Greg and all the interesting and important topics he had to share… ‘
It comes after Greg – when he was given a little more time to speak – discussed his son’s autism and the possibility that his age is a factor in why Sid has the developmental disability.
The star spoke to The Times’ T2 about his son, who he has with his fourth wife Anna, 37, and detailed how Sid was diagnosed with autism last year and struggles to get an EHCP (an education, health and care plan) from the council.
Sid is non-verbal and it’s unknown if he’ll ever speak, but the Masterchef star admitted they’re “hoping” that they’ll see developments in the toddler.
Gregg was asked if he thought his age was related to Sid’s autism, as multiple studies published over the past decade have shown that older men and women are more likely than young people to have a child with autism.
When asked if he was concerned about the link between age and autism, he candidly said, “It could be. I don’t care. The blame is on God and little children. It won’t make it any better if we go: it’s my fault.’
Gregg and Anna welcomed their first child – Gregg’s fourth – in May 2019. Gregg was married to Christine Wallace for less than a year in 1981, Denise Wallace from 1999 to 2004, Heidi Brown from 2011 to 2012, and married Anne-Marie in 2016.
Speaking in T2 about how he reacted to the diagnosis, he said, “You’re going through a period of near-grieving. Like, my God, I didn’t have the child I thought I had.”
Gregg stopped hosting Inside The Factory to spend more time with Sid and recently launched his own wellness and weight loss app.
Meaningful: The Master Chef presenter, 58, joined the ladies’ ITV panel on Monday morning as a guest to celebrate his son Sid, four
Sweet: The star shares his son with his fourth wife Anna, 37, and describes how Sid was diagnosed with autism last year and struggles to get an EHCP (an education, health and care plan) from the council
Last year on Loose Women, Gregg revealed that he and Anna was only officially diagnosed at the age of three: ‘Syd has autism…
“He’s three, you can’t legally establish it in this country until they’re two and a half, but when we were about a year old, we knew we had some problems.”
When asked by Coleen Nolan and Kaye Adams what the signs were, Gregg said, “For us, he didn’t answer by name, he didn’t play peek-a-boo.”
“He walked and ran around, but he has autism and he has something called global developmental delay. So he’s not talking.’
Gregg then sweetly added, “But he’s beautiful and he’s cuddly and he’s happy. And when he wants something, he takes your hand and takes you. Honestly, if you think you have a problem, go see someone.’