Bake Off star’s family bond
Great British Bake Off star Prue Leith has revealed how her daughter has followed in her footsteps.
Celebrity cook Prue adopted 16- month- old Li- Da from war-torn Cambodia in 1975.
And when Li- Da grew up, she took in a boy of the same age – but only after surviving breast cancer.
On Tuesday at 9pm, viewers will see Prue, 80, and Li- Da Kruger, 45, travel to Cambodia to explore her roots and her itage in
Channel 4’s Prue
Leith: Journey with My Daughter.
The experience has further strengthened their bond.
Prue said: “Li-Da has enhanced our life in so many ways.
She makes us proud.
She is the light of my life. I adore her. She is the kindest woman you could ever meet.”
Fi lm- ma ker Li- Da and husband Matt were planning a baby in 2013 but their dreams were put on hold when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Prue said: “It was very scary. But she is very philosophical. In a way, she made it very easy for us all because she was determinedly cheerful.”
Doctors froze Li- Da’s eggs before treatment but intensive medication prevented her from trying for a child for five years. When the couple were finally able to have IVF, it resulted in a devastating miscarriage.
But all was not lost and, in April last year, Li-Da adopted a little boy.
The process, however, was not easy and she was twice promised a chi ld then turned down because a “more suitable” family was found based on “ethnic cultural background”.
Prue said: “One time she was too whi te and the other time she was too black. It was heartbreaking.”
Prue, who has a biological son, Tory MP Danny Kruger, 45, by late husband Rayne, hopes the documentary will help Cambodians reconnect with lost relatives.
She has enjoyed a 60-year career but said her heavy workload meant family sometimes suffered. In 2017 she joined Paul Hollywood, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding in Bake Off.
She said: “I’m not a very good grandma. I don’t think I was a very good mum either.”
Comparing herself to Li-Da’s mother-in-law Anne, Prue added: “Her whole life, it seems to me, is about pleasing her children and her grandchildren. I don’t even remember their birthdays.
“But I will cook for them and they love it when we make stuff.”