Prue Leith and her first husband Rayne Kruger’s love story is one for the ages.
The Nice British Baking Present star opened up about her late partner on the Tuesday, August 12, episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson‘s Dinner’s on Me podcast. Whereas reflecting on his 2002 dying on the age of 80, Leith stated the grief she suffered was “terrible.”
“When the previous queen [Queen Elizabeth II] was speaking about loss, I feel she was speaking about Prince Philip‘s dying, she stated, ‘Grief is the value you pay for love,’” Leith shared. “And it’s the very precise value. In case you love someone so much, the grief is horrific.”
She went on to notice that, in contrast to herself, Kruger was “very reclusive,” which led them to buy a farmhouse within the English countryside that was “miles from anybody else.” Throughout their marriage, Leith stated she and Kruger made it a practice to spend time collectively daily at 7 p.m., whether or not in individual or by way of cellphone when one was away.
“And so, when he died, that seven o’clock was essentially the most horrible time as a result of it was form of so inbuilt to me after 25 years of, ‘It’s seven o’clock, I have to ring Rayne,’” she stated. “As a result of wherever I used to be, I’d ring him if we weren’t collectively.”
Antony Jones/Getty Photographs for Pimm’s
On the podcast, Leith additionally seemed again at her and Kruger’s distinctive relationship beginnings. Not solely did Leith know Kruger since she was 3 years previous, however she had a “13-year secret affair” with him whereas he was married to South African actress Nan Munro.
“I adored her, and she or he was fantastic to me, and she or he was like a mom to me, and she or he couldn’t have been extra welcoming,” Leith stated of Munro. “However I fell in love together with her husband, and he with me. And so for years we saved it completely secret.”
Although she and Kruger had been “very discreet,” Leith stated it was not unusual for the 2 of them to been seen with one another as a result of they labored collectively.
“I can’t justify it as a result of I feel it’s fallacious. I nonetheless assume adultery is unhealthy, however I wouldn’t undo it,” Leith informed Ferguson. “You see, folks say to me, ‘In case you assume it was fallacious, would you do issues otherwise?’ No, I wouldn’t. He was an important man in my life.”
In response to Leith, the one cause she and Kruger revealed their affair was as a result of she turned pregnant. (The couple welcomed their son, Danny, in 1974 and adopted their daughter, Li-Da, the next yr.)
Leith says Munro empathized together with her after the affair information broke, as her personal relationship with Kruger was initially met with disapproval. “I simply stated, ‘I’m desperately sorry, however I couldn’t assist it, and I wouldn’t change it,’” she shared. “And she or he stated, ‘Effectively, I perceive that.’ She stated, ‘Once I first met Rain and he wished to marry me, my mom was saying, ‘Nan, you may’t marry him, he’s 20 years youthful than you, it’ll by no means work.’ And she or he stated, ‘If I’ve 5 years of him, it would have been value it. I really like him a lot, I’ve received to marry him.’ So she did, they usually had 25 years.”
Leith was married to Kruger from 1974 till he died in 2002. She went on to wed her husband, John Playfair, in 2016.
“He’s my toy boy. He’s 76,” Leith stated of her associate, who’s 9 years her junior, on the podcast.