[Red Moon]

'The truth is I'm not rich enough for her': Celebrity chef John Burton Race hits back at his wife

Last week celebrity chef John Burton Race's wife accused him of being a drunk who fired a shotgun in his own home. Now he gives his side of the story.

Kim is Miss Bling. I once bought her a pair of wellies and she hit me with them. The truth is I'm not rich enough for her...her wants never stop

John Burton Race had not been able to bring himself to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes, but there it was: his Michelin-starred New Angel restaurant closed down and boarded up.

As he took in the note, handwritten by his estranged wife Kim and pinned to the door, directing all enquiries regarding its sudden closure to him, his anger and frustration threatened to overwhelm him.

According to the chef, he had put up with countless instances of Kim's unreasonable behaviour since their split in March. But by targeting his beloved restaurant while he was in Australia filming I'm A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! she had, he realised, declared war.

"I was devastated when I arrived back in Devon and saw the restaurant," he says. "I've worked unbelievably hard to keep it afloat and then Kim, who hasn't set foot in it for seven months, comes along, gives the staff their P45s and closes it. It's a very bitter pill to swallow.

"They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and this proves it. There's nothing else she can do to punish me for leaving her for another woman, so she's done this. And frankly, I'm not very impressed."

Since John, 50, arrived back in Britain last week following his stint in the jungle, the acrimony between him and Kim, 42, has escalated to dramatic levels.

Last weekend, Kim branded him a violent, bullying drunk who callously left her and their six children to live with his mistress and their love child.

But now, in his own typically frank interview, prompted by his fury at her closure of the New Angel, he has hit back to claim her portrayal of him was just a cynical – and hugely exaggerated – attempt to garner the sympathy of the nation.

Despite claiming "I don't want to play the tit-for-tat game", he unleashes an outspoken attack on Kim, calling her a materialistic "Miss Bling" for whom he was never rich enough.

He also claims that despite pretending to be relieved that their marriage has ended, in reality, Kim has repeatedly begged him to leave his girlfriend and return to the family home. According to him, she has been cautioned by police for harassing him and Suzi.

He says: "I went into the jungle partly to escape the bitterness of divorce proceedings with Kim, who has shown me a lot of hostility, particularly over seeing my children. In cases like these, the woman will always get all the sympathy, but though I admit I'm no angel, nothing is ever as clear-cut as it seems.

"Kim knows there are only two ways to hurt me: through money and through my children. She's been very successful in hurting me with them both.

"The past few months have hurt me and damaged me a lot and have been very stressful. And now she's closed the restaurant, I feel it's my turn to speak out, even though I never wanted to air our dirty linen in public."

John's marriage to Kim ended in March when she finally discovered his affair with 40-year-old artist Suzi Ward – and that he had a three-year-old son with her. He walked out on the family home in the picturesque Devon village of Ashprington, near Totnes, to set up home with Ms Ward in a rented cottage in nearby Strete.

The father of nine has kept up an abrasive, arrogant persona on television, suggesting he has been unaffected by the upheavals in his private life. But in person, it is clear that he has found the past few months stressful – although many would say he has brought these troubles on himself.

He accepts he was not the easiest man to live with during 11 years of marriage to Kim, with whom he fathered two children, Charles, ten, and Amelia, eight, whom he raised alongside Kim's four children from her previous marriage – Eve, 21, Olivia, 18, Martha, 17, and Eliza, 12.

He admits his obsession with his work frequently led him to place the needs of his family far behind his own.

"Since being a teenager I've been very driven, ambitious and very, very passionate about my cooking, which means I became a bit selfish," he says. "I've been a right pain in the a*** at times and often made life difficult for Kim.

"I've worked extraordinarily stupid hours and I haven't been a great contributor to bringing up the children except from earning the money. I wasn't there for the nativity plays and parents' evenings.

"But my work is the one thing in my life which has always been good to me. I've always been useless at relationships and I've always hidden in my work when times were bad. Both my marriages have ended acrimoniously – my first wife went totally off the rails and then for some bizarre reason, the judge in our divorce let her keep our two kids.

He claims his marriage to Kim was in serious trouble long before he met Ms Ward. "My relationship with Kim had already gone wrong when we went to live in France for the programme French Leave in 2002 because for the first time, we were in really close proximity," he says.

"When I was living in London, getting up ridiculously early and getting home after everyone had gone to bed at night, it was fine. But when I had to wake up next to her and spend every day in her company it was the first time I realised who I had married. I realised I didn't have anything in common with her.

"My passions are food and wine. She can't cook and wouldn't know a Petrus from a cheap bottle of plonk. I love art and architecture, walking in the countryside and horse-riding. I once bought her a pair of wellies as a joke and she hit me with them," he laughs.

He adds: "It's not her fault – she is a London girl born and bred and loves the city. She is Miss Bling and I'm not bling at all. The truth is I'm just not rich enough for her. Her and the kids' wants never stopped.

"Even when I did French Leave and earned lots of money, I was still broke because I poured everything into the family – the cars, the holidays, the driving lessons, the jewellery for Kim.

"It was never enough though. And I'm just not very interested in that side of life, which has been very frustrating for her."

John is convinced that Kim believes his success in his career has been down to her influence. She has often been described as being a successful businesswoman when the pair met in the mid-Nineties – when both were married to other people – which infuriates him.

He is fiercely proud of his career and he defends his precious achievements against the suggestion anyone else could have contributed to them.

"She has this thing in her head that my career has been made by her, but when we met I'd already achieved great success with the restaurant L'ortolan, was chef of the year, had two Michelin stars and had been Raymond Blanc's head chef. I made myself through sheer hard work.

"What I've read about her being a high-flying businesswoman in her own right is ridiculous. When I met her she was nothing of the sort.

"Her first husband owned a successful company, Avro, which was bought by Monarch Airlines. Kim was working as a credit controller and she was the bird the boss married. I was very down in the dumps when we met. I'm weak when it comes to women. I fell in love with her."

He pauses for a second, then adds: "Well, I thought it was love, but now I think it was just lust."

He is keen to refute persistent rumours that his reason for moving his family to Devon in late 2003 was because his affair with Ms Ward had already begun.

"Suzi and I met before we moved down to Devon, but at that stage there was no hanky panky – she was just someone I knew. It was when we moved that we became more," he says.

But once he began his double life, John's behaviour towards his family inevitably changed as he struggled to maintain a facade of normality. It was this, he says, which led him to seek occasional refuge in alcohol, although he denies Kim's description of him as a violent drunk.

"It was enormously stressful living a normal home life with my family and then meeting Suzi and having our child, Pip. I know people will say, well, that's your own fault, and it is.

"I regret the hurt I caused Kim and our children, and I know the eldest ones will never forgive me for leaving their mum. But when I hear Eve telling the Press she has dragged me out of hedges more times than she's had hot dinners, it hurts me.

"It's a lie. I love wine and drinking, and there have been occasions in the past few years when I've drunk to forget about certain things in my head, but I'm not a drunk. I've never let it interfere with my work."

Kim has claimed that, on one occasion, during an argument with Eve over her then boyfriend, John pulled out a shotgun and, following a tussle with it in which she and Olivia were hit with the gun, fired it into the floor of the family home. John insists this never happened.

Rolling his eyes, he says: "Look, when you're a father to daughters whom you love, they sometimes like to mix with Mr S***, people that you think are hopeless cases. All middle-class girls are attracted to boys their fathers dislike. And when Mr Thicko comes along, what's a father supposed to do?

"One night I came home and there's Eve with this guy off his head. He said something I really took objection to so I wanted to duff him.

"I didn't hit him and I didn't get the gun out, but it got out of proportion and the police were called. But they didn't confiscate the guns – I still have them now. If there had been any hint of me firing them in the house, they would have been taken immediately."

Since their split in March, John says it has been Kim's behaviour which has been erratic rather than his own. He claims he has seen Charles and Amelia just three times in nine months and that Kim has gone out of her way to make life difficult for him and his girlfriend.

"Kim says I've got no interest in seeing the children. The last time I brought them home after a visit, Kim called the police, which was very embarrassing. She says I've ruined their lives but they've been fine the times I have seen them. She is an excellent mother and I respect that, but I miss my kids."

He claims Kim is desperate to win him back. 'She has gone to great lengths in the past few months to try to get me to go back to her.

"Just before I went into the jungle she called me late one night to say she would forgive me and forget I had a girlfriend if I went back to her.

"Now she's not allowed to come anywhere near the house I live in with Suzi and our son. I've got a protection order against her and she's been cautioned by the police for harassing us."

For John, the final straw was discovering she had closed the New Angel because, she said, it was in such serious financial difficulties. He says it is a "dirty trick".

"I admit the restaurant was in trouble. I've been doing loads of TV all over the place and all the money I've earned has gone into the company to help it along. However much I earned, though, it never covered the shortfall. But by closing it she's done nothing to help our finances.

"She tried to close the New Angel last year, when I was working away, but I came back and stopped it happening. I'm sure she would like to open it again herself. But I won't be cooking there, so it won't work for her.

"She's taken away a venue for me to do my work but she can't take my skill, enthusiasm and ability. I'm going to sell the restaurant now as quickly as possible so I can pay off all the creditors.

"Clearly, I'm not the best businessman in the world, like a lot of creative people, but I'll find a new project and continue doing my TV and books. As long as I'm cooking, I'll be happy."

When asked if he has any regrets, John shakes his head firmly. "I regret the hurt I've caused, but how can I regret falling in love with Suzi or having Pip? While I was in the jungle, I got a letter from Suzi and a drawing from our son and it made it all seem worthwhile to me. We live together in a tiny cottage without central heating, and we have nothing, but we're happy.

"I admit I'm a t***. I'm just trying to grasp some happiness, like everyone else. I'm just hoping this will be third time lucky for me."

Source: Daily Mail

[Jackie]

I actually watched french leave with him and his family in it,the children didn't like the french school and his wife was crying.