Former homeless TV presenter becomes charity ambassador

Smiling and holding a thumbs-up, Matty White poses for a photo next to the iconic Michelin man mascot.

The presenter, 47, is an invitee to the glittering Michelin food awards ceremony in Manchester’s grandiose Midland Hotel.

As he poses, the world’s best chefs are queuing up for a photo call.

Canapes, made by top Mancunian chef Adam Reid, are being served.

The Michelin ceremony - the pinnacle of food journalism - came after weeks of radio and podcast appearances, a spot on Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch, and starring in the Sainsbury’s Christmas TV commercial.

But it’s a far cry from how Matty spent the winter of 1993-94.

A teenager, he was homeless in the Midlands, making a bed out of friends’ sofas, benches, photo booths, a ‘battered and abandoned’ Mini Metro, and even underneath a tarpaulin on some rubble at the end of a railway platform.

That spell on the streets followed unimaginable tragedy.

Matty left home at the age of 16 for ‘personal and family’ reasons, and after a brief period of staying with mates, he found love.

Her name was Bryony, and she was a single mum.

“She had a little boy so I took on a fatherly role,” Matty explained.

“Then I stayed at a friend’s house.

“One morning I came back and found that she died from an asthma attack.”

That led Matty to leave his hometown of Coventry, and moved to Nottingham.

But a fresh start didn’t lead to happier times.

“That spiralled me into depression… I was really low,” he continued.

He began sleeping rough again, before eventually being picked up by council workers and homeless charities.

“Eventually I found a hostel for under-21s, then through that, with income support called a job seekers’ hardship allowance which was paid to the hostel to help me manage it,” he went on.

“They would buy me a food parcel.

"They were helping me to budget and manage money, and cook in a shared kitchen.”

With a newly-acquired set of home-making skills, Matty found ‘a little one-bedroom flat’, which was furnished with second-hand furniture supplied by a charity.

He paid his way with ‘hard graft’ jobs, getting a settled income and lifestyle in place.

From there, he went back to college and relocated to Manchester to study media.

The rest, they say, is history.

Now, Matty has opened up on his past - having only previously told his wife - and is an ambassador for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity.

The reason why he’s revealed what he’s gone through is, with growing teenage sons, he often thinks back to his own late-teen experience and how it shaped him.

“I don’t know where my life would have gone without the people and charities that were there,” he said.

“So people know, when I stand up and champion the cause, it really means something to me.

“I’m in a privileged place now and love what I do.

"I’ve made tonnes of connections through what I do and occasionally people stop and say hello… that’s a world away from feeling unloved sleeping on a park bench.

"I’m grateful for that every day.”

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