MasterChef star Graham Hornigold has opened up about the 'soul destroying' way his mum 'systematically destroyed' his life during an appearance on Lorraine on Tuesday.
The 50 year old, who is a judge of MasterChef: The Professionals, appeared on the ITV show to chat to host Lorraine Kelly, 65, about his new Netflix documentary Con Mum.
The doc follows the extraordinary story of how Graham's biological mum conned him out of a huge amount of money after he tried to reconnect with her for a number of years.
His mum, named Dionne, contacted him via email back in 2020, and told Graham that she didn't have long to live because she had a brain tumour and bone marrow cancer.
Lorraine told the chef: 'The cunning of this woman and the way she took advantage of you. It's soul destroying. I don't know how you coped with that...'
Graham, who was two years old when he was adopted, replied: 'It's an express freight train to the heart, that's how she got in.
MasterChef star Graham Hornigold has opened up about the 'soul destroying' way his mum 'systematically destroyed' his life during an appearance on Lorraine on Tuesday
Lorraine told the chef: 'The cunning of this woman an the way she took advantage of you. It's soul destroying. I don't know how you coped with that...'
'That's how she utilised, how can I say it, an unprocessed wound and that's literally how she got in.
'By taking advantage of an unprocessed wound.'
He continued: 'You don't expect the one person, one of the two people, who are supposed to protect, love and nurture you, regardless of whatever age, to then come in and systematically dismantle your life.'
Because of what has happened, he said he has problems with trust.
Graham explained: 'In the immediate aftermath, I was very untrusting, I still am today to a certain point.'
'I don't blame you,' Lorraine told him.
He continued: 'But you throw yourself into work.
'On the work side you are professional, you are able to operate, which is why the last 30 odd years have been great in terms of hospitality and hospitality family.
Con Mum is available to watch on March 25 on streaming service Netflix
'It's just that externally you have all of these subliminal triggers which tract various types of people into your life, manipulators, whatever, and it's the same with anybody's life essentially.
'If you don't take stock of things that happen, and process them, they sit subliminally within your personality and people take advantage.'
Lorriane confessed during the chat: 'I thought she wasn't your mum.'
She described it as the 'ultimate betrayal'.
Graham said: 'That's why I'm sitting here.
'If she wasn't my mum, then potentially I wouldn't be sitting here because societal norms are to not talk about being conned because of embarrassment, this that and the other.
'But she is my mum so in my pro career, full of integrity and professionalism.
'How can I be true to myself if I'm not the same in my personal life and she's using my name to dismantle other families?'
After getting in touch with Graham, he went on to meet his mum in a penthouse of a Liverpool hotel, and she told him she speaks 18 languages and is a successful affluent businesswoman.
In a Netflix world exclusive, Graham's story, which is being told for the first time on the global streamer, details how he went from the highs of being a head chef at A-list restaurant Hakkasan to suffering a betrayal so calculated he lost his entire life savings and the chance to finally connect with blood family.
Speaking in the preview clip, Graham, co-founder of Longboys Doughnuts, says: 'There's no greater act of love than to cook for someone... As I child I never had that mother child bond.'
His ex-partner Heather, who's from New Zealand, explains: 'Graham didn't know who his real mum was and then one day out of the blue we received an email... She had been given months to live, and this was her driving factor in trying to find Graham.
'I wish we had never received that email. It was the start of something we never thought in a million years was going to happen.'
Graham adds: 'She has this wealth which she wants us to inherit. She has businesses all over the world, we are talking like hundreds of millions.'
The trailer begins with voice notes from Dionne, who tells Graham: 'I never stopped loving you, I just want to be with you so much.'
She is also heard saying: 'If I die soon... You'll be a multimillionaire.'
Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
