Bake Off judge Prue Leith fled back to work after childbirth

PRUE LEITH has revealed that she returned to work as a new mother because she could not live with the “baby as my sole companion”.

The chef and The Great British Bake Off judge said that she felt compelled to return to her career in 1974 after having her first child, Danny Kruger, who is now a Conservative MP.

Leith said that her enjoyment of maternity leave and having her child as her “sole companion” soon wore off, and she craved a return to work.

She said: “When I had my first child, Daniel, I took four months off and I loved it. I thought: ‘This is wonderful – I never want to go back.’ Four months in, with my baby as my sole companion, I suddenly thought: ‘This is not the life I want to live at all. I have to go back.’”

She told Good Housekeeping: “You have to do what’s right for you, but it doesn’t come without some feeling that you’ve not got it quite right because you’re making trade-offs all the time.”

At the time, Leith was expanding her businesses having already founded Leith’s Good Food and the Michelinstarred restaurant Leith’s in 1969.

Just months after the birth of her son Leith went on to found Leiths School of Food and Wine in 1975, which trains amateur cooks and professional chefs. Her long career in television was also beginning during that period.

Leith has said in the past that her decision to focus on her career left her feeling like a “bad mother” because she did not spend enough time with her children, Danny and Li-da Kruger.

The restaurateur, 82, also revealed that her television career now prevents her from spending enough time with her grandchildren.