Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett says his new romance with Erica Packer has been a ‘fun and amazing adventure’: ‘I’m a very lucky man’

Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett has opened up about his new romance with James Packer’s glamorous ex-wife Erica.

The 48-year-old gushed about his new relationship, admitting it has been a “fun and amazing adventure.”

“Erica is great,” Shannon told the Herald of the sun.

‘She’s really good, she comes and goes a lot. “It’s a fun and surprising adventure, it’s surprising we haven’t met before.”

‘We are loving life. “I’m a very lucky man,” he added.

Shannon and Erica were spotted out and about during the Christmas holidays.

Erica married James in 2007 and then they separated in 2013, but they get along well as they are parents to their three children.

Erica reportedly received a $100 million divorce settlement and purchased a family home in Los Angeles shortly after the breakup.

James also bought an $80 million mansion in Los Angeles so he could be closer to Erica and their children when he was in town.

“James’ main priority at the moment is the welfare of his children,” a family friend told the Daily Telegraph at the time of the divorce.

When Erica visits Sydney, she often lives with her ex-husband and children in James’ $72 million Crown penthouse.

The former couple is so close that they often enjoy family vacations together.

On the contrary, Shannon’s relationship with his ex-partner Madeleine West is not so friendly.

Shannon, who rose to fame on MasterChef Australia, split from Madeleine in September 2018 after 13 years of dating.

Madeleine later claimed that the separation process “turned love toxic.”

Two years after their split, she left Melbourne and moved to the Byron Bay area to be near her six children, and bought her own $4.6 million property overlooking Tallow Beach.

In May 2022, Shannon said Madeleine saw her children biweekly, while they spent the rest of the time with him.

Madeleine spent last year embroiled in court battles with Benny Bennett, Shannon’s elderly father, who filed an AVO against her after an alleged confrontation at the chef’s Byron mansion in 2022.

A magistrate enforced the AVO by describing Madeleine as an “evasive” and unreliable witness, and her alleged treatment of her former father-in-law, 75, as “almost aggressive”.

But the decision was overturned when Madeleine appealed to the District Court of New South Wales and won in a ruling by Judge Jonathan Priestley, who said “the supporting factual evidence is scant and not supported by” the images. from five different CCTV cameras around Shannon. Bennett’s house.