While the chef has had to roll with the COVID punches, there has been one silver lining to the global pandemic – more time with his sons Hudson, 9, and Emerson, 6, and actress wife Lindsay Price, 44.
“Truthfully, it’s been fantastic. Helping the kids with schoolwork, being home to make dinner and for bedtime. I’m looking forward to things getting back on track to normal, but I’m not going to lie … this time spent at home has been super special.”
Understandably, Curtis, usually a frequent guest judge on MasterChef, is champing at the bit to return to Australian shores, possibly for good.
“I miss home so much. I haven’t been able to get back for a year when I’m usually there every other month. However, for now, my and Lindsay’s work keeps us in the US, but we never say never!
“You want to teach [the kids] more about their heritage because you’re not around it. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I do hope that one day we’ll move back.
“I wish I could have [my boys] there more – and I wish they’d understand Aussie Rules football! But it’s life and we’ll get there one day.”
Since relocating stateside 15 years ago, Curtis has gone from being a party-loving bachelor living it up in LA to being the ultimate poster boy for fatherhood.
In 2009, he met Beverly Hills, 90210 star Lindsay on a blind date.They married in 2013, about a year and a half after they welcomed Hudson.
“It wasn’t my dream to be a dad or have kids,” Curtis reveals. “Not that I was against it, it just wasn’t at the top of my list. But after having children you realise what true love is all about – I can’t even think about not being a dad now.”
While ‘Linds’ is immersed in the glitz and glam of Hollywood, Curtis says that both he and his wife shun the limelight in favour of “a humbler, simpler kind of life”.
“I’m pretty spiritual,” he says. “I believe you get what you give in life – if you can be kind to others it will come back to you. For me, it’s so important to just be a good husband, a good friend, a good father and a good human being.
“You need to realise that nothing is ever perfect … you always have your ups and your downs – but right now my life is a dream. I’m a very lucky man.”
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