EXCLUSIVE
Celebrity chef Opel Khan and his wife of 28 years have agreed to accept strict restraining orders taken out by police to protect them from each other.
The 12-month apprehended orders were issued weeks after a French woman at the centre of Khan’s split with Julie Miller admitted she did not know if he was the father of her newborn child.
Khan has also been dealing with the collapse of his restaurant empire as debt collectors circle and he defends legal action over accusations of wage theft from some of his staff.
The TV personality has closed his Sydney restaurants including French-themed Metisse, pasta diner Acqua E Farina in Potts Point, and Bistronomie in Surry Hills.
Separate AVO applications naming Khan, 56, and Ms Miller, 52, as persons in need of protection came before Sydney‘s Burwood Local Court for the first time in January.
Ms Miller, who until recently used Khan as her surname, arrived with her right arm in a cast that day and stayed on the floor below the court room while her matter was mentioned upstairs.
Khan waited in a nearby coffee shop for several hours and left the court precinct on foot before the AVO police are seeking to protect Ms Miller was adjourned.
After her husband was gone, Ms Miller sat down in the same cafe and later began to weep when asked about what had happened between her and Khan.
Celebrity chef Opel Khan (above) and his wife of 28 years have agreed to accept strict restraining orders taken out by police to protect them from each other
Julie Miller (right) arrived at court with her arm in a cast when police sought AVOs against both her and estranged husband Opel Khan. It is not suggested caused the injury to Ms Miller’s arm
‘No comment,’ Ms Miller said while being comforted by two supporters.
It is not suggested Bangladeshi-born Khan caused the injury to Ms Miller’s right arm.
The AVO applications were back before Burwood Local Court on March 6 when final orders were imposed.
Both Khan and Ms Miller were legally represented but only Ms Miller was present in court.
The orders were made by consent without Khan or Ms Miller making and admissions of wrongdoing.
For the next 12 months they are legally bound not to assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate each other.
The estranged couple has given varying versions of the state of their marriage since being approached about rumours their relationship was over in January.
Bangladeshi-born Khan initially claimed he and Ms Miller were ‘very much together’ in a video call he made to Daily Mail Australia alongside his wife.
But he conceded their marriage had been rocked by claims of an affair after an anonymous woman got in touch with Ms Miller and claimed she was his secret lover.
Opel Khan has also been dealing with the collapse of his restaurant empire as debt collectors circle and he defends legal action over accusations of wage theft from some of his staff
‘A woman contacted my wife claiming to be my mistress,’ he said. ‘I was at a dinner with five or six females and a photo was sent to my wife insinuating things.
‘Now people are making up all kinds of rumours that there is a baby on the way. None of this is true. People in the Bangladeshi community are against me.’
It is not suggested there is any truth to the claims made against Khan.
Days later, Ms Miller told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We are not together and are divorcing.’
Ms Miller, who wished to set the record straight on her marriage, said she had heard allegations of infidelity by her husband from a mystery informant.
‘I got contacted by someone I didn’t know, it wasn’t a female though,’ she said. ‘No female has contacted me as far as I know.’
Khan subsequently backtracked on his previous claims he and Ms Miller were still a couple.
‘I never said we were together or living together,’ he said this time.
Celia Huppe-Fournier (above), a retail assistant turned restaurant adviser to Khan, said she gave birth to a daughter on December 19 and did not know if Khan was the father
Matters were further complicated when Celia Huppe-Fournier, a retail assistant turned restaurant adviser to Khan, said she had given birth to a daughter on December 19.
The young first-time mother told Daily Mail Australia she did not know who was the father of her child.
‘I’m not sure about that,’ she said when asked if it was Khan. ‘I have no idea.’
Ms Huppe-Fournier described her current relationships with Khan as ‘amicable’ and said they were closed friends.
‘I am friends with him but only talk sometimes,’ she said.
‘My mum is here to help me, so [Khan] took us for dinner when she landed. We went for, like, Indian food – no, Bangladeshi food.’
Ms Huppe-Fournier was adamant she was navigating parenthood as a single mother.
‘With Opel I don’t want to get too involved,’ she said.
Julie Miller (above), who wished to set the record straight on her marriage, said she had heard allegations of infidelity by her husband from a mystery informant. She is pictured outside court
‘I don’t want to ask him for anything, I’m very independent since I’ve been in Australia. I don’t rely on other people.’
Ms Huppe-Fournier explained she met Khan through luxury watchmaker Panerai where she once worked as a retail assistant and he was a brand ambassador.
‘I resigned and he wanted me to help open another bistro, a French restaurant,’ she said.
Khan closed his Opel Group hospitality website in October, telling Good Food he was bowing out of the restaurant sector due to rising food costs.
Last May, Khan replaced his upmarket Khanaa restaurant in Surry Hills with Bistronomie, a venue he marketed as hosting affordable eats for the tough times.
But the doors have now closed on the whole empire.
Khan also scrapped plans to open a second Bistronomie outpost in the ill-fated Potts Point venue that previously housed the Gastro Park and Antipodean restaurants.
