Blumenthal: Why my snail’s pace divorce took 6 years

HESTON BLUMENTHAL has opened his heart about his relief at finally being divorced – a remarkable six years after he and wife Zanna split up.

In a candid interview in today’s TV Week magazine, the chef – celebrated for culinary creations including snail porridge – declares: ‘My wife and I have settled our differences, divorce-wise. We’ve done it.’

Blumenthal, 50, and Zanna, pictured right, married in 1989. In 1995 he opened The Fat Duck restaurant, which would go on to earn three Michelin stars.

During his rise to fame, he said Zanna was ‘the biggest reason’ for his success and highlighted the sacrifices she had made to support him.

They parted in 2011 and the chef embarked on a relationship with US cookery writer Suzanne Pirret. Blumenthal says it has taken him and Zanna, who have three grown-up children, six and a half years to sort out their joint finances and business arrangements.

He says: ‘It’s only when it gets resolved that you realise the tension. I feel quite different now. I’ve been trying to free myself up. It’s a bit like when you’re making a stew, you keep adding extra things in but it’s still not quite right.’