Penny Lancaster furiously hits out at 'bully' Gregg Wallace with scathing statement

Penny Lancaster has broken her silence on her husband, Sir Rod Stewart, outing BBC MasterChef star Gregg Wallace as a "bully". Speaking on ITV's Loose Women, the 53-year-old TV star shared a bit more about the situation and how she really felt while competing on the BBC show.

Kaye Adams welcomed the media personality to the Loose Women panel, saying: "Penny, this is the first time we have seen you since your husband wrote a social media post about how you said that Gregg Wallace treated you on MasterChef. I was lying in bed when I saw it, I don't know where you were."

Last month, Sir Rod alleged the TV presenter had "humiliated" his wife when she was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021, following the news Wallace had stepped away from the BBC programme while a review is conducted into historical complaints about his behaviour.

His lawyers have previously strongly denied all of the allegations made against him, denying "he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature".

Penny raised her eyebrows as Kaye read some of the viral post out, as she explained: "I didn't realise my husband had sent that post out until it was out. And of course, you can imagine the influx of inquiries there were.

"I most definitely was witness and victim to some of the bullying and harassment behaviour of Gregg Wallace and, unfortunately, a lot of those involved in the production team were also witness to that.

"And I really feel that he used his position of power to, I believe, intimidate and cause distress to a lot of people on set. And it's really unfortunate that someone like him is allowed to get away with that, and while others sort of stand by and let it happen at the same time."

Speaking about what spurred Rod on to post the viral Instagram message, Penny explained: "My husband, I think, when he first heard people talking about some of the disturbing behaviour, he couldn't hold back, I guess. Protective husband thought 'I'm not going to stay silent, I need to say something.

"He realised how upset I was at the time but I haven't gone into details of what it was."

She added that she was actually on jury service, and her phone had to be completely turned off, when Rod made the Instagram post. When she turned her phone back on she was inundated with messages praising the message from her husband as she quizzed: "What has he done?"

Penny shared that she was initially in shock by the actions that Sir Rod had taken. However, after a couple of days she admitted to feeling "vindicated".

She said: "Going back to that whole #metoo, it is shocking to see how many women suffer at the hands of men and are too afraid to talk out. They don't feel, at the time, that they're going to be supported or listened to. So sometimes it can take a few years later for someone to mention something to give the other victims and people that have suffered the confidence to come forward."

The BBC said it does not tolerate "any form of inappropriate behaviour" and has "robust processes" in place.