A jilted husband who saw his wife leave their marriage for a passionate affair with TV chef Stephen Terry has said his life has been turned upside down by the couple’s “selfish” actions which left him on the brink of financial ruin and contemplating suicide.
Just two years ago, Paul Browning, 37, was living the perfect suburban family life with his wife Jo Browning, 32, and their young daughter in leafy Abergavenny, South Wales.
But his wife’s chance encounter with Stephen Terry in the city’s wine shop triggered a series of events that caused him to lose his home, his marriage, and his peace of mind.
Now, Paul says, his wife, with whom he intended to spend the rest of his life, is “dead to him.”
Terry, 56, who was best man at Gordon Ramsay’s wedding and is a well-known TV chef on shows including Great British Menu, was also having an affair right under the nose of his wife Jo Terry, 54, who, According to Paul, he was left in the same shock as him.
Paul Browning says his wife Jo is ‘dead to him’ after she left him for TV chef Stephen Terry
Stephen Terry has put his award-winning restaurant up for sale after separating from his wife to join Mr Browning’s wife Jo.
Terry’s new lover is Jo Browning, 32, 24 years his junior.
Terry (left) was best man at Gordon Ramsay’s wedding and has appeared on shows including Great British Menu.
Browning photographed at his home in South Wales with some of his daughter’s toys
Terry trained with Marco Pierre White at Harveys and became best friends with Gordon Ramsay when they worked together.
Terry’s The Hardwick restaurant has won awards including a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide, being named best restaurant in Wales in consecutive years and named 19th best gastropub in the coveted Estrella Damm 50 Best Gastropubs list in 2020.
Terry, a father of three, ran the restaurant with his wife Joanne after his family helped finance the purchase and added luxurious rooms for guests to stay.
He announced his sudden closure after 18 years in October last year and his affair with Miss Browning was revealed shortly afterwards.
Speaking at the time, Terry said: “I’m sorry for the pain it has caused my family and I will for the rest of my life.”
But you only have one life. I am supporting my wife the best I can. I don’t want this to be a disaster.’
According to Paul, “messy” is an understatement.
Speaking to MailOnline, Paul claimed Terry and Jo’s behavior during and after the divorce has pushed their abandoned families to the breaking point.
Paul first learned of Jo’s flirtation with Terry in 2022.
She explained: ‘They met when he saw her working at Chester’s winery in Abergavenny.
In fact, I got him the job. She wanted to leave this job and I said: No, you need this. This is for you. You need to have your own part of life, your own job, because our daughter is growing up.
“He mentioned to the owner of the wine shop in Chester that he liked her.”
“He even told me this, saying ‘oh, he has feelings for me,’ and I warned him to be careful.”
Shortly after this chance meeting, the two began their affair, which they managed to keep secret for over a year until Stephen’s daughter found out, prompting Jo to finally tell the truth.
Paul said: ‘My wife confessed to the affair in May last year. In reality, she only came clean after Stephen Terry’s daughters saw her name appear on her father’s phone and knew they were going to tell me.
“Sure enough, the next day one of Stephen’s daughters sent me a message.”
Divorces are rarely easy, but Paul says his has been plagued with difficulties and he now faces financial ruin while his wife goes on holiday abroad with Terry and drives around town in a car he bought her. through a personal loan.
He said: ‘They have let me pay the mortgage and all the outstanding bills.
“Despite paying the bills, they go on trips together on the weekends.”
Browning says divorce from wife left him in dire financial situation
Terry (pictured right with Ramsay) trained with Marco Pierre White at Harveys and became best friends with the Kitchen Nightmares star when they worked together.
Terry’s ex-wife Jo (left), 54, mother of his three children, said she was “devastated” by the separation.
Mr Terry’s restaurant, The Hardwick, in Abergavenny, Wales, was one of the best restaurants in the country before it closed.
During the divorce, Paul says he begged Jo to keep the house they shared with their disabled mother so as not to “financially ruin” them both.
However, Jo refused and now Stephen lives alone and only sees his daughter at weekends.
He explained: ‘The house we bought is on the market for £600,000 at the moment. I still have an outstanding mortgage of £130,000.
‘I told him we can’t afford to move. We have a daughter. The school is just down the street. I work outside Monday to Friday. We can live in separate apartments. It is a 3-story house.
‘We can live in separate flats and just wait and finish it to save both of us financially.
‘My daughter is 8 years old. She knows something is happening. It’s difficult, she now lives with a man she doesn’t know.’
And while Paul suffers in silence, he says that Jo and Terry have been living the good life on a series of luxury vacations, including, most heartbreaking of all, a dream trip to Paris that he had organized for Jo.
He explained: ‘We had tickets to Blink 182 in Paris and she took it. We had paid with them from our joint account and I said I would go with a friend.
“She just took the Airbnb and the tickets and they went to Paris.
Throughout this whole sorry affair, Paul has found unlikely solace in Jo Terry, Stephen’s abandoned wife.
Together they have tried to navigate the new chapter of their lives that, according to him, has been accumulated by the destructive trail of their ex-partners.
He revealed: ‘They have both destroyed two families. I’ve been on a suicide line because right now I just don’t know where I am or where I’m going.
“Emotionally, Jo Terry has been fantastic, we talk from time to time because we are the only two people in the world who know how each other feels.”
Looking ahead, Paul is determined to be there for his young daughter and build a new life for himself, leaving all memories of Jo and her TV lover behind.
As expected, he feels no warmth for either of them.
He commented: ‘They both have his and hers Minis. I think she’s having a midlife crisis.
‘It will probably leave my ex in a difficult situation. That is his choice. She is now dead to me.
Oh, and by the way, the media has described her as a “wine expert,” but she’s not. She has taken a very basic course.