He's known for being a down-to-earth Yorkshireman and isn't shy when it comes to telling it straight either and that's what happened when he split up with his former partner - mega rich James Bond producer, Barbara Broccoli - over one lavish gift too far.
The chef, who first rose to fame on Ready, Steady Cook back in the 1990s and regularly features on This Morning, dated Barbara back in the early 2000s after meeting at a charity auction, but the pair broke it off in 2008 after she tried to gift him an £180,000 Aston Martin, as reported by The Express, after splashing out on three Picassos for the chef.
He opened up about their break-up at the time, saying: "It wasn’t as if it was my birthday or Christmas – it was just a spur of the moment thought. In the end I said, ‘If I want something, I’ll work for it. Just drop it or we’re going to fall out over this’. It was a defining moment in our relationship. Deep down, I knew there was always going to be an imbalance."
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He also said that the split was "probably for the best" adding: "To walk away from someone you love and who loves you that much is hard. Maybe it was the daftest thing I have done in my life but it was probably the most sensible, too."
Barbara is in control of the 007 film franchise alongside her half-brother, Michael G Wilson, and their father was Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, who produced 17 Bond movies. The now 61-year-old is said to be worth £300million.
James has now been dating his current partner, TV producer Louise Davies, since 2011.
