Richard E Grant, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson have today paid tribute to celebrated chef Skye Gyngell after she died at the age of 62.
Ms Gyngell was Australia’s first female recipient of a Michelin star and passed away following a fight with Merkel cell carcinoma – a very rare and aggressive skin cancer.
Skye died in the UK on Saturday – just 19 months after she found a suspicious lump on her neck.
The chef was credited with pioneering the ‘slow food movement’ and influencing restaurants to return to using local and seasonal ingredients.
After leaving Sydney, where she grew up, she trained as a chef in France – after her first kitchen job washing dishes in Paris.
She later worked at top restaurants in London before becoming head chef at Petersham Nurseries Café in Richmond when it opened in 2004. Skye earned a Michelin star for the restaurant seven years later – the first and still the only Australian woman to do so.
But she never courted TV fame, declaring: ‘I don’t have the need for fame or celebrity. I don’t want to stand for hours with a bloody camera pointed at me doing the same thing over and over again’.
Nigella Lawson has said she is ‘heartbroken’ by her death, adding: ‘However ill you know someone to be, their death is always a shock. It’s just awful that Skye is no longer in the world’.
Jamie Oliver wrote on Instagram: ‘Terrible sad news. She was an amazing woman and incredible cook and kindhearted. She will be very, very, very missed. Thank you for all you did to inspire young cooks’.
Richard E Grant, 68, paid tribute to her on Instagram after the news broke, revealing how Skye had sent his family food parcels when his wife Joan was diagnosed with lung cancer. He also told how Skye catered for Richard’s daughter Olivia’s wedding last September.
Richard E Grant, Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver paid tribute to Australian celebrity chef Skye Gyngell on Sunday following her death from a rare skin cancer at the age of 62
Skye with the Princess of Wales in 2019
Her heartbroken family issued the statement: ‘We are deeply saddened to share news of Skye Gyngell’s passing on November 22 in London , surrounded by her family and loved ones.’
Born in Sydney in 1963, Ms Gyngell was the daughter of famed broadcaster Bruce Gyngell – the first person to appear on Australian television- and Ann Barr, a well-known interior designer.
Her brother is David Gyngell, former CEO of Nine Entertainment in Australia, who infamously became embroiled in a public brawl with his friend billionaire James Packer on the streets of Bondi in 2014.
His sister Skye was dubbed the ‘Courtney Love of cooking’ having opened up about her past addictions to heroin and alcohol.
Despite her troubles she went on to enjoy extraordinary success in the restaurant world.
Ms Gyngell left Australia aged 19 to attend a cookery school in Paris, before moving to London and finding success as the head chef at Petersham Nurseries Cafe.
In 2011, the cafe secured Ms Gyngell her first Michelin star.
But it was this honour that proved to be the downfall of Ms Gyngell’s time at the cafe. Within a year, she announced she was leaving.
‘It’s been a curse,’ she told Fairfax at the time.
‘Since we got the star we’ve been crammed every single day, which is really hard for such a tiny restaurant. And we’ve had lots more complaints.
‘People have certain expectations of a Michelin restaurant, but we don’t have cloths on the tables, our service isn’t very formal.’
She went on to become culinary director at Heckfield Place in Hampshire in 2012 and two years later opened her own celebrated restaurant, Spring, at Somerset House.
Her culinary feats drew an impressive list of high-profile clients over the years, where she began private catering for the likes of Mick Jagger, Madonna, Nigella Lawson and Guy Ritchie.
Alongside her restaurant work, Gyngell published several cookbooks and contributed widely to food writing.
Nigella Lawson shared this image and tribute to her friend Skye
Jamie Oliver called her an ‘amazing cook’ and ‘wonderful person’
Richard penned in his social media tribute: ‘Devastated to hear that Chef Supremo Skye Gyngell has died…’
He also told how Skye catered for Richard’s daughter Olivia’s wedding last September – as he shared snaps from the nuptials to his Story
Away from the kitchen, Ms Gyngell spoke of her addictions to heroin and alcohol while growing up in Sydney’s affluent east suburb, referring to this period as the time she was the ‘f**k up’.
In the article, which posed the question whether Ms Gyngell was the ‘Courtney Love of cooking’, she revealed her addictions led her to become estranged from her family.
She said they arose from poor self esteem, the impact of having a father in the limelight, and the casual use of drugs in her inner circle.
‘I felt there was no space and that everybody was watching us,’ she said.
While many of her friends sadly died, Ms Gyngell says her reasons for making it through were cooking and her beloved daughters.
She said her father’s death in 2000 was a watershed moment after he left her out of his will.
She soon began attending Narcotics Anonymous and gave up drugs and alcohol in her 30s.
‘It was the best thing he could have done,’ she later told The Times.
‘I’m a much better cook now I’m sober… the smell [of it] is enough for me.’
Though she admitted that her work became ‘another addiction’, where she thought about food obsessively and loved to experiment with combinations.
‘I can understand why artists have problems with alcohol – obsession and addiction are closely linked,’ she added.
Skye (second from left) with her dad Bruce Gyngell and her siblings, Briony (left) and David
Skye’s mother Ann Barr was a well-known interior designer in Australia and was inducted into the Design Institute Hall of Fame for her work
In 1989, she married Thomas Gore but they divorced seven years later. She is survived by her two daughters, Holly and Evie.
Her death has moved many.
Richard E Grant, 68, penned in his tribute: ‘Devastated to hear that Chef Supremo Skye Gyngell has died.
‘I met Skye at Petersham Nurseries 21 years ago, became good friends, cooked through all her recipe books each summer in the south of France and in London, and when my wife was diagnosed, she sent us sublime food parcels to lift our spirits.
‘Her final act of generosity was to cater for our daughter @oliviagranted wedding last September. I will continue to cook her unique recipes as long as I am lucky enough to live.’
Meanwhile fellow chef Jamie, 50, wrote in his tribute: ‘This is incredibly sad to hear of her passing @sykegyngell was an amazing Cook and wonderful person she will be very missed rest in peace sweet lady.’
Her family’s statement continued: ‘Skye was a culinary visionary who influenced generations of chefs and growers globally to think about food and its connection to the land.
‘She leaves behind a remarkable legacy and is an inspiration to us all.’
Gyngell passed away following a fight with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and fast-growing skin cancer diagnosed when she found a lump on her neck in April 2024.
