‘The Great British Bake Off’ Star Says ‘I Haven’t Got Much Longer’ in Candid Interview

Dame Prue Leith is entering her twilight years, she says.

The judge from Great British Bake Off, now 85, told Holly Rubenstein on The Travel Diaries that she “hasn’t got much longer.”

She talked to Rubenstein about leaning on her husband John Playfair for support, and is “pretty close” to needing a caretaker to get around and help her with her busy schedule.

Plus, she wants more time to spend with husband Playfair: “I haven’t got much longer, I’m 85, I want to spend as much time as I can with him, and so if we are filming abroad, or like next week, we’re going to New York because I’ve got to publicize the American baking show, I’m now old enough for my agent to say ‘I’m sorry, but she has to ring her husband, because she’s 85, she needs someone to carry the bags.’”

The South African-born restauranteur Leith was once a Michelin-starred chef after opening her eponymous restaurant, Leith’s, in 1969.

She eventually shifted to writing food coulmns and cookbooks, and eventually went on to become one of the UK’s most famous chefs. She starred as the judge of BBC Two’s The Great British Menu for 11 years before later moving to GBBO.

Leith was originally married to British property developer Rayne Kruger until his death in 2002. Playfair and Leith were married in 2016, and now live in Gloucestershire.