Rebecca Gibney's tears ‘I'M DOING IT FOR MY SON'

The Kiwi acting legend opens up about her family and why she feels ‘naked’ being on MasterChef

-  Helen Vnuk

When Rebecca Gibney was asked to go on Celebrity MasterChef Australia, the Kiwi actress said no. Then her 17-year-old son Zac found out about it.

“He was absolutely ropeable because he loves the show so much,” Rebecca laughs, speaking from their family home in Dunedin. “He was like, ‘Mum, if you’re going to do a reality show, that’s the only one you can do… Seriously!’ And I wanted him to be proud of me.”

So the Back To The Rafters and Halifax: Retribution star rang back to say yes. “While he’s still at home, for the little while that he’s got left, I thought, ‘I want to do it for him.’”

Rebecca, who has been married to TV producer Richard Bell for almost 20 years, admits she doesn’t really cook because she doesn’t have the time.

“I can cook basic things, but particularly in the past few years, I’ve been so busy that I just haven’t been in the kitchen,” she explains. “I’m very lucky that I’m married to a man who is an excellent cook, so he tends to do a lot of the cooking in the house.”

As if her lack of culinary experience wasn’t enough to make her nervous, Rebecca, 56, has never been on a reality show before. It hit her when she first walked into the MasterChef kitchen.