Fred Sirieix has opened up about how other people’s “unconscious bias” has manifested in his relationship with a woman who is from a different ethnicity to him and his children.
The First Dates star, 51, has been engaged to his partner, a fashion influencer known as “Fruitcake”, since 2020. Prior to his current relationship, he was with Alessandra Spendolini, with whom he shares two children.
In a new interview, Sirieix recalled an experience he and Fruitcake had recently that garnered strange looks from staff at a restaurant he visited.
He told The Times: “Last week, we went to a restaurant in London with my son Lucien. Fruitcake was standing a little behind him and when I asked for a table for three I could see the maitre d’ looking at us, wondering how we could possibly be together.
“I do not think it was simple racism but just… clumsy,” he continued. “It’s unconscious bias and I am sure we are all guilty of it from time to time.”
The term “unconscious bias” described biases or stereotypes that people hold about a group of people without realising it. This can affect their behaviour and decisions, as well as how they treat certain groups.
Other famous faces who have used the term previously include the Duke of Sussex, who said that unconscious bias might have been the reason that an unnamed member of the royal family was allegedly worried about how dark his son Archie’s skin would be before he was born.
In his and the Duchess of Sussex’s explosive 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle claimed that one of Prince Harry’s relatives raised concerns about the colour of Archie’s skin while she was still pregnant with him.
Later, in an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby in January, Harry denied accusing the royal family of racism and said: “Going back to the difference between what my understanding is because of my own experience, the difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different.”
Elsewhere in his interview, Sirieix also gave his advice on how to eat well while travelling, without having to spend lots of money on expensive restaurants.
“You don’t need much money to eat beautifully,” he told the publication. “I have always known this. My advice when you go to a new country is: get a bus out to a village and eat with locals. Or make it yourself.
“In France, find a farmer to shoot you a rabbit. Lapin a la moutarde [rabbit in mustard]. Voila! It’s unbelievably beautiful.”
