He’s the celebrated French chef who received a rapturous response from fans when he became a MasterChef Australia judge in 2024, but behind his exuberant exterior Jean-Christophe Novelli has endured his fair share of struggles.
While he’s a bona fide celeb these days, Novelli’s rise to stardom wasn’t handed to him on a plate.
The eldest of four, he grew up in Arras in northern France in a family of modest means. Novelli’s father, Jean, was a labourer, and his mother, Monique, suffered from polio, which affected her ability to walk.
“I came from a very wealthy family,” Novelli reflected in a 2013 interview with the Irish Independent. “We had everything. The only thing we did not have is money, but I had the best parents, and still have.
“My dad was the most amazing teacher, and I never saw him drink or be violent. I saw him losing his temper, and I deserved it, of course. But there was never an inch of fear.”
However, the MasterChef judge struggled at school because of his hyperactive personality, and he was expelled a few times. However, when he was 12, a new teacher allowed him to express his dreams.
He told her all about the simple joy he felt going into the local bakery to buy bread each morning, because there was something special about the place – and from there Novelli’s passion for food grew.
Scroll on to find out more about Jean-Christophe’s life and love of food before finding fame on MasterChef.
What is Jean-Christophe Novelli known for?
Novelli got his first big break working for a large hotel group, which later led to him becoming a private chef for a wealthy family. When the family moved to America, Novelli went to the UK to practice his English.
He went on to become a chef at Chewton Glen, a five-star country house hotel in the UK’s picturesque New Forest and marry his first wife, Tina, a cleaner. The pair went on to welcome a daughter, Christina.
“I was working six days a week when Christina was born and didn’t really get to spend time with her mum,” Novelli told the Irish Independent. “We got married, and even though the marriage was a disaster, I wanted to make sure Christina had my name.”
After the pair split, Novelli’s career continued to progress, with the opening of his first London restaurant called Maison Novelli. Its success led to Novelli making TV appearances on The Games – a UK reality show where celebs compete in a variety of sporting events – and as a guest chef on the British version of Hell’s Kitchen.
He continued to open restaurants, but his empire came crumbling down after he expanded too quickly.
“In two years, I went from having £500 to being worth millions, but the money wasn’t an issue for me. I was excited by it all, I just wanted to open more and more places,” Novelli told The Guardian in 2010.
“People said I was spreading myself too thin, that I did too many things in a short time. Then I lost everything. I came back from New York and the bank manager pulled the plug.”
The collapse of everything he’d built led Novelli to reassess his life. With the help of fellow chef Marco Pierre White, he slowly got back on his feet.
These days, as well as being a MasterChef judge here in Australia, Novelli continues to be a guiding force behind the Novelli Belfast City Quays restaurant, a Mediterranean and French-inspired brasserie at the AC Marriott hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
He also runs the Novelli Academy, a cooking school based at his 14th-century home in Hertfordshire, UK.
Not only that, but he is also the host of the cooking show The Heat, where 10 young chefs are put to the test in his Barcelona kitchen.
When his new hosting role was initially announced in 2025, fans worried that he would leave MasterChef, but he exclusively told New Idea that wasn’t the case.
“Nothing will take me away from MasterChef, unless I’ve been told to stop,” he shared.
How many Michelin stars does Jean-Christophe Novelli have?
Novelli’s numerous new commitments are a testament to his talent, and the celebrated chef has accumulated four Michelin stars over the years.
He earned his first star working as a Chef Patron at Gordleton Mill in Hampshire, UK, and received another shortly after opening Maison Novelli in London.
As well as his Michelin stars, he has earned other achievements, including 5/5 AA Rosettes and Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year.
Is Jean-Christophe Novelli married?
Just like his rollercoaster career, Novelli’s personal life has been turbulent at times.
After his first marriage ended, Novelli married South African model Anzelle Visser in 1999. However, the union ended months later, with Novelli later telling The Standard Visser he was “terribly destroyed when it ended” and that it “was missing something”.
Today, Novelli is married to his third wife, Michelle. The pair met at the airport when Michelle came to work for his Novelli Academy.
In 2013, Novelli told the Irish Independent that Michelle was “the most amazing woman on Earth”.
“Every time I see her I think, ‘Why did I have to wait so long to find her?’ “She’s an artist, she is wonderful, and we are so happy”, he said.
Does Jean-Christophe Novelli have children?
Novelli and Michelle married in 2008 and went on to welcome three sons: Jean, born in August 2008, Jacques, born in July 2012, and Valentino, born in September 2016.
But the couple suffered heartache when Valentino was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the nervous system, at just 10 weeks old.
“One evening we were cuddling the baby and Michelle was feeding him and we saw a tiny lump on his neck,” Novelli said in an interview with British breakfast show This Morning in 2016. “You just think it’s part of the growth as he’s feeding well and we’re looking after him very well.
“We looked to see if there was something similar on the other side of the neck, and there wasn’t. I touched it, and it was unusually hard, so we knew something wasn’t right.
Valentino underwent two years of chemotherapy, which took a huge toll on the whole family.
“I had to continue to work, and my wife, Michelle, devoted her time to caring for Valentino and our other two boys,” Novelli explained in an interview with The Matt Haycox Show podcast in 2023.
He continued to say that he saw his wife change during his treatment.
“I saw her face changing, her hair becoming grey. She didn’t eat for two or three days, did not eat. Not even a piece of bread. She only drank water. She did not move,” he said.
“I could see the connection between them. It’s hard to explain, but it felt that her soul was inside him and swallowing the cancer herself. And, as Valentino looked stronger, Michelle looked weaker, and I feared the physical and emotional toll she was under would kill her.”
Thankfully, Valentino was eventually declared cancer free, but the family’s difficulties did not end there. In 2019, Valentino was diagnosed with autism.
“When they told me. I wasn’t surprised. I knew he had it. When I got home, it hit me and I was upset about it. The poor little mite has been through so much,” Michelle told The Mirror in a 2019 interview.
While he is incredibly busy, he is focused on looking after his family.
Valentino’s sensory challenges inspired him to design the framework for Sensory Notes with Mastercard and Autism CRC.
The new menu style, which is being rolled out at restaurants across the country, provides photographs of dishes and notes on how they are prepared, plated and arranged, their tastes and flavours, appearance and garnishes, and the temperatures they’re served at.
“I am very invested in making sure that everyone – and this is how it should be anyways – should be feeling comfortable dining out,” he told New Idea.
“It should be social. It should not be a war, it should not be a struggle.”
