Penny Lancaster has opened up about the moment she discovered her husband, Sir Rod Stewart, had launched a furious public attack on TV presenter Gregg Wallace in her defence, admitting she wishes he had given her a warning.
The Instagram Post That Shocked a Star
Speaking on the podcast My Life at Christmas with Anita Rani, the model and TV personality reflected on the events of last year. She was serving on jury duty at Chelmsford Crown Court with her phone switched off, completely unaware of the social media storm brewing.
‘Oooooh Jeeeesus! I remember thinking,’ Lancaster admitted, laughing now at the memory. Her first clue came as she pulled into her driveway and saw a flood of text messages. Stewart had taken to Instagram to label Wallace a ‘tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully’ who had ‘humiliated my wife.’
Reflecting on Consequences and 'Comeuppance'
Lancaster, 54, connected the incident to a broader theme of accountability. In her memoir, she had called out two individuals: Wallace and Conservative peer Michelle Mone. She noted with astonishment that both have since faced significant professional consequences.
‘Talk about timing!’ she said. Baroness Mone had her assets frozen following a PPE scandal. Meanwhile, Gregg Wallace lost his long-standing role on MasterChef in July 2025 after a number of behaviour complaints were upheld against him, which he denies.
Wallace later drew further criticism by suggesting only ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ had complained about his behaviour. ‘Talk about stabbing yourself in the foot!’ Lancaster remarked. ‘It just goes to show he’s gone so long without consequences, he doesn’t see what he did wrong.’
A Desire for Preparation Amidst Support
While deeply appreciative of her husband's fierce loyalty, Lancaster confessed she would have preferred a heads-up. ‘I said, “I wish you had told me, so I could have prepared myself,”’ she revealed. She wanted to be ready for the media attention that swiftly followed Rod's post.
Her agent called immediately, but Lancaster declined all interview requests. Instead, she chose to work directly with the official investigation team to ensure her account was formally recorded. ‘I wished to handle the situation through official channels as opposed to doing press interviews,’ she stated.
She believes Stewart's very public stance sent a powerful message that she was not alone and that those close to her would defend her. However, she reserves criticism for Wallace's production team, who she feels allowed a toxic environment to persist during her tearful appearance on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
‘They allowed him to carry on that way because nobody stepped in to help me back in 2021,’ she insisted, emphasising that more should have been done to protect her at the time.
Despite the stress, Lancaster now feels a sense of closure. Seeing Wallace and Mone face repercussions has been both ‘satisfying and surreal.’ She stresses that her initial silence was a strategic choice, not weakness. ‘It’s about timing and how you handle situations like that,’ she said firmly.
Ultimately, she hopes the entire episode serves as a lesson. ‘I hope people learn from it,’ Penny Lancaster said, acknowledging that her husband's fiery post did help encourage other women to speak out.
