When Poh's ex-husband started dating her best friend, she did something no one expected.

Behind the infectious smile that has captivated Australia lies a tapestry of heartbreak, resilience and reinvention. Poh Ling Yeow — beloved chef, artist, and cultural icon — has lived many lives within one lifetime, each chapter marked by profound transformation.

Growing up in Malaysia, Poh couldn't escape the gnawing feeling that she didn't belong.

"I always felt like an alien. Like I'd been beamed in from somewhere else," she told Kate Langbroek on Mamamia's No Filter. "I feel odd all the time."

When her mother announced their move to Australia, nine-year-old Poh felt an electric jolt of recognition.

"It was like lightning struck my head. Everything's going to make sense. Everything's going to be fine."

Landing in Australia, she found wonder in the unfamiliar landscape that would become home.

Listen to Poh Ling Yeow's chat with Kate Langbroek on Mamamia's No Filter. Post continues below.

At 15, when her family's business was struggling, Mormonism offered an unexpected sanctuary.

"We lost a lot of family support during that time, so the church was this amazing sort of social structure that we got heli-dropped into," she said.

After school, travels to Utah and Canada expanded her horizons. What began as a religious journey soon evolved into a radical awakening when friendships with diverse people challenged everything she'd been taught.

"It blew my world apart," she said.

This awakening coincided with meeting Matt Phipps, her first husband and fellow church member.

"Matt was just this incredibly intelligent, articulate, little sort of rebel at church," Poh said. "We were really good friends at first, because we found intellectual solace."

Together, they embarked on a quiet rebellion, choosing a garden wedding over a temple ceremony — the first step in their departure from the faith.

Poh during MasterChef season 12. Image: Channel 10.

Eventually, it reached a point where it was harder to stay than it was to leave.

"We had to sort of really coach each other out of that situation, because it's a lot," she said.

After nine years, their marriage began crumbling beneath the weight of expectation and incompatibility.

"We were bringing out the worst in each other," Poh said. "It just was such a dysfunctional relationship, and we knew it, but we didn't know how to get out of it."

The breaking point arrived unexpectedly, while standing before her easel.

"It just came to me clear as a bell," Poh said. "It was like, 'You need to do it right now.'"

With sudden clarity, she left her painting unfinished, "legged it" to get divorce papers, and ended her marriage.

While Poh knew it was a long time coming, Matt still felt blindsided.

What followed defies conventional narratives of betrayal.

Matt found solace in the arms of Poh's best friend, Sarah — a development that initially stung but ultimately led to one of the most unusual post-divorce arrangements in Australian public life.

"I was still pissed, I'm not gonna deny that," Poh said. "But I knew that for me… It was like a picture in my brain… of me holding on to the garbage… The feelings are garbage, and what I was turning into was garbage."

Once she was able to let go, Poh found everything fell into place.

"I felt this release," she said.

When Matt moved across the street, a situation most would find unthinkable, Poh embraced it.

"I actually said I would love it if you did," she said. "I feel like us completely separating after living in each other's pockets is so unhealthy… We kind of nursed each other through the breakup."

Poh with her second husband, Jono. Image: Getty.

It was Sarah who encouraged Poh to audition for MasterChef Australia, delivering a prophecy that would change everything: "I don't know really what it is, but I think you'll be great at it. And I think you're gonna be there till the end."

And she was.

The cooking competition catapulted Poh into Australia's living rooms and hearts. It also delivered unexpected romance when she met Jono Bennett, a production runner, in fleeting moments between filming.

"It became a very traditional kind of old-fashioned courtship, because we're not allowed to fraternise with the crew," Poh said.

"It was reduced to little cute looks across the yard… and then say hi to each other, hello and goodbye. So it was very cute."

Though their marriage ended in 2021, described by Poh as "the most untraumatic breakup possible", Jono remained in her orbit as a business partner alongside Matt and Sarah in their Adelaide-based venture, Jamface.

Navigating grief.

Just when Poh seemed to have mastered the art of graceful transitions, life delivered its cruelest blows.

In November 2022, while overseas on a European work trip, Poh received the news that her mother was failing fast.

Despite knowing her mother was unwell before departing, Poh had believed, perhaps needed to believe, that she would pull through.

A FaceTime call from Vienna became their final goodbye.

"Everyone was around her at that point. I was like, 'Hi mum, I'm going to come home really, really soon…' She looked really, really weak. And she said, 'No, you just stay and finish your thing.' And I could feel she really meant it, and I think it's because she knew she wasn't going to be able to hang on."

Ten hours later, her mother was gone.

The absence during those final moments haunts Poh still, though she's found a way to reconcile it with her nature.

"I'm a bit of a risk-taker, and I just took a really bad risk," she said.

"And I think if I had my way again, I probably would have done the same thing, because it's my nature to do that. That's how I've been able to get over it… to accept that that crap decision was probably always going to be that crap decision."

The following year, her close friend, comedian and presenter Cal Wilson, died from a rare and aggressive cancer.

"What a divine human… She's literally godly in her ability to love and give infinitely," Poh said. "How did she have this capacity to love everyone so hard and thoroughly and make so much space for people?"

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These words could describe Poh herself: a woman whose capacity to remain open despite repeated heartbreak seems almost supernatural. Where others build walls, Poh keeps her heart unguarded.

"I've always been like that since I was a kid, even though I was shy," she said.

"I'm curious about how I can feel more, what experiences I can put myself into. I'm very greedy… for life experiences."

This hunger for emotional authenticity guided her through grief. Without a partner or children to care for during her mother's passing, Poh focused on herself.

"Within it, I was still able to find so much beauty in the sorrow," she said. "I think it's because I'm always searching for it."

It shaped what might be her life philosophy: "I am not afraid of feeling — fear, the whole gamut. I love it. Because it's what it is to be human. So if you're not going to feel, what the hell are you going to do, right?"

And if that's not a message to live by, I don't know what is.

Feature image: Getty.