Alex Hollywood

PUTTING TOUGH TIMES BEHIND HER AS SHE STARTS A NEW CHAPTER ALEX HOLLYWOOD THE CHEF AND FOOD WRITER ON DIVORCE, HER ‘GLASS HALF-FULL’ ATTITUDE AND WHY LIFE IS FOR LIVING

- Sally Morgan

The mouth-watering aroma of herb-roasted chicken fills the air as Alex Hollywood deftly whips up a bed of her sun-soaked Mediterranean salad. Bustling around the kitchen, she is in her element, the place where she feels most at home.

“Food is my passion; it always has been,” she says in this exclusive interview and photoshoot with hello!. “I can’t imagine not cooking every day. I would have to be super ill not to.

“I do it for the people I love,” she continues, recommending one of her favorite desserts – white chocolate and raspberry brioche pudding, a dish inspired by her son Joshua’s love of white chocolate buttons – to follow the main course. “It’s my way of showing nurture and care.”

The accomplished chef’s diary is jampacked with a veritable feast of gastronomic treats ahead, too.

From demonstrating her culinary skills at the celebrated Thame Food Festival this weekend to appearing alongside Nadia Sawalha in the Christmas episode of her new TV series, Nadia’s Family Feasts, the Love British Food ambassador and Great Taste awards judge is, to use an apt expression, cooking with gas.

“I enjoy making people happy with the food I’ve prepared,” says 55-year-old Alex, whose books, My Busy Kitchen and Cooking Tonight, are crammed with tasty dishes designed to spice up family mealtimes. “I have recipes coming out of my ears!”

Behind the scenes, however, she is still determinedly moving on from the most devastating blow of her life: the end of her 20-year marriage to The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood.

INNER STRENGTH