We're Finally Married!

My kitchen rules judge Manu Feildel has tied the knot with fiancee Clarissa in a tropical wedding.

- Jenny Brown

Every ingredient was perfect – sunshine, blue sky, family, friends, fine food and fun – when My Kitchen Rules favourite Manu Feildel finally married his longtime love, Clarissa Weerasena.

‘Ofcourse I cried but it was happiness, not nerves,’ laughs the handsome groom, speaking exclusively to New Idea after the emotion-filled ceremony last Monday. ‘I could not hold onto my feelings. I’m a big, soft bear!’

The happy couple’s nuptials had been put on the backburner for several years while life, work and the birth of beautiful daughter Charlee, now three, postponed their big day. 

But at last the stars aligned, allowing Manu and Clarissa to cook up their whirlwind wedding surprise in just three months of hectic planning.

‘It was on the cards for a very long time. We were engaged for four years,’ Manu, 44, admits ruefully. ‘People have been asking all that time, “When, when, when?” But our lives are so busy nowadays and I’ve been doing a lot of work. 

‘In the end we said, “Listen, we just have to do this thing.” It wasn’t really important, but it needed to be done. And we’ve been able to get our best friends and family together this year...

‘So I believe in destiny,’ grins the charming French chef, TV star, restaurateur, businessman, author and rookie actor. ‘It just happens when it happens, to be honest. There is a time for everything. Maybe we weren’t ready a year or two ago. We are now!’

And softly-spoken Clarissa, whose exotic looks reveal her Chinese/Sri Lankan heritage, agrees. ‘Life happens when you are making plans! We had other things to do. For us, we were already married in spirit and in mind. It was more about being together with family and friends, and doing it so our parents were there to witness.’