With a dreamy French accent and culinary skills most only dream of possessing, it’s no surprise that longtime My Kitchen Rules judge Manu Feildel often has fans of the show swooning over him.
Hilariously, however, when the 50-year-old met his now-wife Clarissa Weerasena at Sydney’s iconic Ivy nightclub back in 2011, she wasn’t won over straight away by his charm.
Speaking with The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2016, the brunette beauty admitted that when they first crossed paths, she had no clue who the TV chef was!
“He comes up to me and says, ‘Your friend says that you can cook better than me,’ and I said, ‘I probably can,'” recalled Clarissa. “I thought, who the hell are you?”
In a later interview with our sister publication TV Week, Manu shared his side of their fateful first meeting.
“We met in a lift going to a nightclub in Sydney. She didn’t know who I was,” he explained at the time.
“We didn’t see each other for three months after that, then we caught up for a drink. I was nervous, because three months had passed. We didn’t see each other for another three months, then had some lunch. The rest is history.”
In the weeks and months to come, the future couple grew closer and closer until Clarissa’s talents in the kitchen finally cemented to Manu that she truly was ‘The One’ for him.
“Clarissa ticked all the boxes – and that was the biggest box. I was like, thank God! She loves eating and she loves cooking – she’s perfect!” a smitten Manu shared with The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Head over heels in love, finally Manu popped the question to Clarissa in 2013, less than two years after their first meeting.
Fast forward to 2015, and the chef and jewelry designer welcomed their daughter Charlee into the world.
Manu also shares a son, Jonti, with his former partner Ronnie Morshead, a hospitality maven whom he previously dated for 12 years.
After a lengthy four-year engagement, Clarissa and Manu finally tied the knot in a “beautiful intimate ceremony” in January 2018.
Taking to his Instagram account to announce the happy news at the time, Manu ecstatically wrote “Yes it’s true I am married!”
“I’ve often said don’t believe what you read in the press but now you hear it from the horse’s mouth, yes it’s true I am married!” he wrote.
“Last week I married the love of my life Clarissa in a beautiful intimate ceremony. We had a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends and lots of love and laughter.”
WATCH NOW: Manu Feildel’s daughter is a chip off the old block. Article continues after video.
After more than four years of marriage, the loved-up pair shared the secret to their long-lasting love with our sister publication Now to Love.
It came as no surprise that Manu admitted that alongside a few other simple things, cooking continued to bring them closer.
“All our life is surrounded by food, that’s definite. Even when we go on holidays, we go where we can find some good restaurants,” he joked.
In the same interview, the former SAS Australia contestant also admitted that his wife “does about 70%” of the cooking!
“We cook every day and that’s what we love doing, we cook for each other, and my wife is a great cook,” he revealed at the time.
“Spending time together and making sure you don’t take each other for granted. You know, sometimes when you’ve been together for too long, you kind of forget what the relationship started with.”
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