‘I ended up in hospital 3 years in a row’: Monica Galetti reveals the heartbreaking toll of her job - and why closing her restaurant was a 'gift'
The MasterChef star shares insight into a devastating period of loss and grief, and the unexpected joy that came with closing her restaurant
MasterChef star Monica Galetti has spoken candidly about a difficult time in her life that saw her lose three close family members and close her restaurant, Mere.
The chef also reflects on being so burnt out at the peak of juggling her career with family life, that she found herself hospitalised with exhaustion three years in a row.
However, Monica does reveal that despite the sadness she felt at waving goodbye to her restaurant, the decision came with an unexpected "gift."
Speaking on the Second Act podcast with host Ateh Jewel, Monica speaks about her nephew Otis, who was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of stomach cancer in 2022.
His illness was the reason she stepped away from MasterChef: The Professionals that year, as she prioritised spending time with Otis and her family in New Zealand.
Sadly, Otis died in April 2024, and there was more heartbreak to come. "My nephew passed away, and then my uncle, his grandad, passed away within three days," Monica reveals. The same month, Monica closed her Fitzrovia restaurant, Mere.
In October 2024, Monica's father also died. "I lost three people, and one of them was my dad," she explains. After closing her restaurant and experiencing three terrible losses, the chef coped with her grief by turning to her faith.
"I really had to lean into my faith," she shares, adding, "For me, it was actually stepping into a life of Christ that got me through it - it's now in my life, I can do anything.
Monica also reveals the toll of grief, and the stress of her challenging job took on her body.
At one point during her career, she reveals, "For three years in a row I ended up in hospital out of exhaustion. All you know is survival mode. If you weren't stressed, you weren't living - it's a horrible cycle."
She was also diagnosed with arthritis. "I was trying to understand the swelling, the pain," she says of the condition, adding, "I can hardly open things, it's a big thing for me."
She continues, "To have that taken away, that's a big bit of your identity - walking down the stairs and I have to be a bit more cautious now, I'm like who is this old lady and I don't like it, I don't like having to ask my husband to open a bottle for me."
In 2024, the year full of grief for Monica, she ended up in hospital again. "To this day they couldn't find what was wrong with me," she explains, but while working in Austria, she experienced groin pain that got so bad she "just couldn't walk and I was in tears."
An ambulance was eventually called, and Monica recalls, "every time they tried to lift my legs up I was just screaming in agony, 'get to the hospital.'"
Scans couldn't find anything wrong, and Monica says, "It's grief. It's your body. I'd just closed the restaurant, I'd just found out my dad had three months to live."
She left hospital and "hobbled around" while shooting a TV show, but says, "Your body is telling you, you need to stop."
This is when she realised closing her restaurant was actually something positive. Not only did it give Monica time to reflect and prioritise herself, it gave her special time with her daughter.
Anais is 20-years-old, and was just about to go to university when Monica had some spare time. "It was such a gift that when we closed the business, we got time back with her - we had one year left with her before she left for university, so that was a real quality time," she shares.
Her daughter loved having her mother around so much more than usual, with Monica recalling her saying, "I get to have so much time with you, so many evenings with you and it's so nice."
