Former Sir Rod Drury employee speaks despite confidential settlement: 'He kissed me over 50 times'

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

Sir Rod Drury’s former private chef claims he repeatedly kissed her on the lips while she worked for him, describing the contact as unwanted. Megan Ruddle is speaking publicly despite a confidential employment settlement last year. Her account follows claims from two former Xero employees who have also alleged unwanted sexual contact. Drury says Ruddle’s allegations are “unfounded” and part of a “sustained media campaign”, and he will make contact with police in relation to the allegations, “as I have with previous matters raised publicly”. Paula Penfold reports.

A recent former employee of New Zealander of the Year Sir Rod Drury claims he repeatedly kissed her on the lips while she was working for him, describing the contact as unwanted.

Megan Ruddle, who began working for Drury as a chef on his luxury catamaran in 2023 and then worked at his Queenstown property, said she wanted to speak publicly having seen him recently knighted and then awarded the New Zealander of the Year title.

“Prestigious accolades that I personally just didn’t think he deserved,” she said in an interview with Stuff. “It didn't paint the right picture of the character that he has. I felt that New Zealand deserved to know the real Rod Drury.”

Ruddle has taken the step of speaking publicly in spite of having signed a non-disclosure agreement and reaching a confidential settlement over an employment dispute – a personal grievance complaint she made against Drury and his company Oto60 in 2025.

“I never wanted to settle and sign an agreement in the first place,” she said. “I think it’s in the best interests of people knowing what actually happened. I don't think that [this] should be able to legally be covered up by an agreement.”

In the agreement, neither Drury nor his company make any admission of liability.

Last month, Ruddle made a police complaint and has been interviewed.

Her claims follow those of two other former employees from when Drury was chief executive of Xero, the accounting software company he founded in 2005. Both accuse him of unwanted sexual contact.

Ruddle worked for Drury for nearly three years, first as a chef on his yacht, and then later as director of residence and wellness at his Queenstown retreat, Taramea. She also cooked for him. That employment ended last year.

In those roles she worked “very closely with him”.

“I knew what he was eating. I knew people that were coming in and out of his house. I knew all of his passwords to all of the keypads. I had access to basically everything,” she said.

She recalled her discomfort beginning almost immediately after she was hired. After flying to Wellington to meet him, she said Drury told her they were going out to a dinner.

“I thought it was going to be me being introduced to some more people, but it was just him. He came to pick me up from my hotel, and he kissed me on the lips.

“I just sort of froze, and said, ‘Is anyone else coming?’ And he said, ‘No’.

“That was the first time.”

Ruddle claimed after that, whenever Drury would greet her, he would kiss her on the lips.

“I would try to avoid it. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life in Spain where you kiss on both cheeks as a greeting. So I would try and go for that. And his face would find my face. I would never kiss back. I would be tense and rigid,” she said. “It felt like he was getting satisfaction out of being able to do something, despite knowing that it made me very uncomfortable.

“It was so obvious that I didn’t want that to happen. But at the time, I felt I wasn’t strong enough to embarrass him or confront him, and I thought he’d stop if I made it really obvious and clear that I didn’t like that, but he never did.”

She said she didn’t know exactly how many times that happened.

“Because it was on and off for over two years. I would say easily over 50 times.”

She said it happened both when she was on her own and in front of other people.

Former co-workers and others have confirmed to Stuff that they witnessed Drury kissing Ruddle on the lips on multiple occasions. One described it as “distasteful and inappropriate”.

Ruddle said Drury was not only her employer but also provided her accommodation and a vehicle, leading her to feel trapped in the situation.

“I felt violated. I felt like I was in a position where all my eggs were in one basket. If I said or did anything…”

She said the experience had been “extremely damaging” to her mental health.

In September 2025 Ruddle said she believed Drury was intending to end her employment. She supplied Stuff with text messages showing a back and forth exchange in which she wrote, “you always used to kiss me on the lips when greeting which you never asked whether I was comfortable with or not, even in front of fellow employees on the boat”.

Drury wrote: “They had not ever been anything other than friendship between us and full support. That is dispicable [sic].”

Ruddle replied that calling her “Hot chef Megan” was despicable. “As is kissing me on the lips.”

She said she would go to the media.

Drury responded, “You are under a confidentiality agreement. Think about it for a few days. No point in destroying everything.”

In a statement to Stuff, Drury said Ruddle’s employment was terminated “with immediate effect due to her conduct”.

He did not say what that was.

The settlement agreement records that Ruddle resigned.

“The following day, she raised these unfounded allegations,” Drury said.

Through an employment lawyer Ruddle made a complaint that Drury had unjustifiably dismissed and sexually harassed her.

A settlement was reached, along with a non-disclosure agreement. It covered outstanding money owed to her, and, without any admission of liability, an ex-gratia payment and compensation in relation to her unjustified dismissal and unjustified disadvantage claims.

Drury said he “stood by the decision to dismiss her” but acknowledged proper employment processes were not duly followed.

“For that reason, a settlement was reached in relation to her employment claim,” he said. “That settlement included mutual confidentiality obligations, in part to protect her ability to seek future employment”.

Ruddle said the day after the settlement, she left New Zealand.

“I’d upset him. I didn’t know what the repercussions meant… I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.”

In response to questions about Ruddle’s claims, Drury said the “sustained media campaign over recent weeks has been very difficult for me, and for my family and friends”.

He said Ruddle’s allegations were not supported by the facts.

“At no time was there any form of intimate or physical relationship, nor did I ever try to initiate one.”

He said he would be making contact with police in relation to the allegations, “as I have with previous matters raised publicly. There are multiple witnesses to the relevant events and documentation which provide the full picture”.

Asked by Stuff about witnesses who saw him kissing Ruddle on the lips on multiple occasions, Drury said, “Nothing further to add”.

Ruddle’s concerns follow claims by two former employees at Xero, where Drury was chief executive for 11 years.

Ally Naylor alleged repeated instances of unwanted sexual contact by Drury at his apartment when she was a junior employee, including kissing her and feeling her breasts.

Drury denied wrongdoing, and said he and Naylor had a “limited, consensual relationship,” a characterisation she rejects.

Another former employee, Amy*, has also claimed inappropriate sexual conduct by Drury.

She said she went to his apartment for what she thought was a conversation about a job opportunity, but that discussion did not happen.

She said when she went to leave he initiated physical contact.

“And then he just grabbed me and kissed me up against the wall. And I was like, ‘Hey, you’re married. You can’t do this’.”

Drury did not address specific questions about Amy’s claims, but said, “Any other relationships I had over that period were consensual and mutual.”

Xero has launched an independent review, led by Maria Dew KC, into the handling of a 2017 complaint made by Naylor, and the company’s response.

Ruddle said she had not worked since she left the job with Drury, and her belongings remain in storage.

She said speaking publicly in spite of her non-disclosure agreement was terrifying.

“It is very intimidating taking on someone of this calibre, especially now that he's been knighted.

“I'm very scared about what's going to come. But I really hope we all get some justice.”

Asked what justice would look like, Ruddle said: “I'd like him to stop. I'd like him to acknowledge what he's done. I'd like him to apologise.”

* Name changed to protect identity.