CONTENT WARNING: This article contains distressing content.
Beloved celebrity chef and Aussie fashion icon Melissa Leong has revealed that she was sexually assaulted while working in the hospitality industry 15 years ago.
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Leong made the heartbreaking confession while speaking to The Age’s Sunday Life ahead of the launch of her memoir, Guts, revealing that she was moved by a speech from sexual abuse survivor Anna Coutts-Trotter at an International Women’s Day Event last year.
“I identified with [her story] far too much,” Leong told the publication.
“I was so ashamed that I just pretended it didn’t happen, so I didn’t keep proof… I just wanted it to all go away,” she continued.
“For the longest time, I did not identify myself as a survivor of sexual assault.”
While creating Guts — which dives deep into Leong’s experience with racism, the dark side of the hospitality industry, and her rise to fame — the former MasterChef Australia judge admitted she was reluctant to get extremely personal about her life, including the sexual assault.
“That was a tricky time to be in hospitality,” she told Sunday Life of her time working as a publicist in the food industry.
“I let my boundaries be flagrantly crossed, and then I took that blame onto myself for such a long time.”
Leong’s decision to speak out about the incident comes at a time when Australia’s hospitality industry is being exposed for alleged sexual harassment and abuse by female workers.
Last year, Swillhouse faced allegations of sexual misconduct from staff members across its high-scale venues, including Restaurant Hubert, Le Foote, Baxter Inn and Caterpillar Club.
Merivale was also embroiled in controversy after former employees and patrons accused the company of putting women at risk by allegedly condoning drug use and failing to appropriately address claims of sexual assault.
The celebrity chef admitted that she regrets not speaking up about the incident at the time, telling Sunday Life, “We didn’t have conversations about consent back then”.
“This has been simmering below the surface for such a long time. Enough is enough … I have huge admiration for the women who spoke up for that story because that was not easy,” Leong added, referring to Nine’s major investigation into Australia’s hospitality giants.
Leong’s book, Guts: A Memoir of Food, Failure and Taking Impossible Chances, drops September 30. She will also be speaking in conversation at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre alongside Melissa Singer on October 1.
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