Makes sense - there's a lot of responsibility that comes with Michelin stars and he wants to be free of it. I guess this is newsworthy because most find the benefits outweigh the downsides. I'm guessing he's got enough acclaim without the stars that it's tilted the scale the other way for him.
Exactly, he's had the stars long enough that they are a bother instead of a blessing.
Presumably there is also a lot of constraint when making up dishes of the sort of "Would a Michelin reviewer score this well?" which is different from "Is this an excellent dish?"
