Matt and Emma Willis reveal how their romance survived perils of fame
Emma Willis reaches out to rub the back of her husband Matt’s neck and says, ‘I loved working together, but you found it a bit weird.’
‘I was really nervous,’ he admits, frowning behind sunglasses. ‘This is Emma’s thing, she’s very good at it. I didn’t want to let her down.’
Matt plays bass in pop band Busted while Emma is known for hosting Big Brother and The Voice. ‘She has this ability to walk into a room and put people at ease even though they haven’t been on telly before,’ Matt says. ‘Everyone is like, “Oh cool, we’re in safe hands.”’
Emma has seen her man through some tough struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, but now they’re settled and happy with three kids, and this visibly loved-up pair have been chosen to front Love Is Blind UK, a new British version of the American dating series that’s one of Netflix’s biggest hits ever.
‘The closer we get to broadcast the more nervous I get, because it’s a very loved show and you don’t want to be the one to drop the ball,’ says Emma, 48. There have already been successful remakes in Brazil, Japan and Sweden. ‘We’ve got to live up to all the expectation. But we’ve just watched the whole series in a day, so we know it does.’
Matt and Emma Willis (pictured) are hosting the UK version of Love Is Blind, which will be available on Netflix from August 7. While Emma has hosted shows including Big Brother and The Voice, this will be Matt’s first time presenting
Love Is Blind places single young men and women in pods separated by frosted glass, and they ‘date’ from there, so all they have to go on is the way the other person sounds and what they say.
They choose potential partners and go deep quickly, telling their life stories, sharing laughter and sorrow. Those who like each other get ‘engaged’ before meeting face to face. They then retreat to a luxury resort, followed by some time living together and meeting the other’s friends and family.
After just one month, there’s a legally binding wedding day, when the bride and groom have the chance to say ‘I do’. Or, indeed, ‘I don’t’.
‘We thought, “That’s a crazy concept!”’ says Emma. ‘Then we watched episode after episode and said, “When can we meet?”’
It’s easy to see why Netflix bosses warmed to these two, with their obvious chemistry. They sit close together, and Emma seems protective of her man. ‘He’s too hard on himself,’ she says of his nerves on their first day on set. ‘He was really professional and prepared. He approached it like an actor, because that’s one of the things he does.’
The 41-year-old with a cheeky air has appeared in EastEnders and the revived Birds Of A Feather, as well as winning I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! back in 2006.
‘Matt learned the script from top to bottom,’ Emma adds. ‘I was like, “Oh no, I’m going to look like a real amateur because I haven’t learned anything!” But I absorb the script as we go along and make tweaks so things are as I would say them.’
So why do we need a new version of Love Is Blind? ‘The American one is loved across the world and ours is the same, just very British,’ says Emma. ‘It’s the sense of humour. They’re very self-deprecating and there’s a slight awkwardness about it all, which is endearing.’
For example, a contestant called Freddie is shy of telling someone he fancies that he works as a funeral director, so tries to smooth things with a little joke: ‘Calm down, I’m not gonna embalm ya!’ Luckily, his date laughs.
Things move fast for some couples, but there’s an endearing hesitation to say too much too soon. ‘It’s very hard to tell someone you love them after two weeks when you’ve never met them face to face,’ says Emma. ‘You know they want to, and you’re willing them on, but there’s this British reserve going, “I do feel it but should I say it?”’
Emma and Matt, who was in noughties band Busted, have been together for 20 years and married for 16. Their relationship has survived Matt’s alcohol and drug addictions and produced three children
‘It’s nice to watch British men being vulnerable,’ says Matt, who opened up about his struggles with substance abuse in BBC documentary Fighting Addiction last year. ‘I think that’s a beautiful thing to see.’
The women say it’s liberating to be assessed on what they say rather than how they look. Emma agrees. ‘I’ve been judged on my looks since I was 17 because of the jobs I’ve done. I was a model first, then I worked for television [starting with MTV] and a lot of the things you get complimented for – or criticised about – are to do with the way you look.
‘It’s always bugged me. People might say, “Oh my God, you looked great!” And I’m thinking, “But did I do a good job?” That’s all that matters at the end of the day, so I love that this show is not about looks.’
Would Matt and Emma have been attracted to each other if they’d met behind screens? ‘No, I would feel so pressured to say the right thing that I would say something stupid and regret it massively,’ Matt says.
Emma’s having none of it. ‘Matt is the most charismatic person I’ve ever met. I have no doubt that would come across, even through a screen.’
They first met when Busted were on a show Emma was presenting, but nothing happened until she saw him on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway in 2004, remembered their rapport and called a friend who knew a friend of his. ‘So I got passed her number but I waited a couple of days,’ reveals Matt.
What? He didn’t call her straight away? ‘Everyone said, “Don’t be too keen.” Terrible advice! I made a bad move but then I called her and I wasn’t holding back.’
‘I didn’t have major expectations,’ Emma says. ‘I just thought maybe we could hang out and have fun. Twenty years later…’
The day we chat is their 16th wedding anniversary, and to mark the occasion Matt has just had a tattoo of Emma on his calf. ‘She’s not super-keen,’ he admits, rolling up his jeans to show me. ‘It’s a biggie. Still a bit scabby, I need to put moisturiser on it.’
Emma frowns. ‘It’s such an old picture of me.’
Busted pictured in July 2003. Matt (left) played bass alongside bandmates Charlie Simpson (centre) and James Bourne (right)
Contestants on Love Is Blind have to decide quickly whether to get serious, so when did that happen for them? ‘It was a funny time,’ Emma says. ‘He was in a band and I was in a job I’d not expected and didn’t know how to navigate, but I realised I couldn’t keep away from him.’
Matt smiles at her. ‘That’s so nice to hear. God, I put her through it. I put her through the wringer for a number of years.’
Matt was just 19 when Busted hit the big time, and when he met Emma he was in his early 20s, drinking heavily and using drugs. ‘We started dating and the band broke up and I thought, “What am I doing? Where am I going? Who am I?” All those kind of questions, but she was there with me,’ he says.
The big crisis came a month before their wedding in 2008. ‘Absolutely there was a pressure point,’ says Matt. ‘I was a mess.
‘Something changes for an addict when you realise you want sobriety and you just can’t get it. Now every time you drink or use you’re not doing it unconsciously, it’s because you can’t stop. There’s a self-hatred that comes with that. I was in a really dark place. I knew we were getting married…’ His voice cracks. ‘Sorry.’
Emma grabs his hand and he recovers. ‘I was scared the wedding wasn’t going to happen, because I couldn’t be that man for her. I’d always been sent to rehab in the past, but this time I begged for help.
‘I came out of that rehab centre three days before we got married. I was sober on my wedding day. It was challenging but I was really proud that I was there. She had not said, “I’m not going to marry you.” But I knew that was on the cards.’
‘He had to make a choice,’ Emma says. ‘I didn’t want to leave. When you love someone and know how much they’re struggling – that it’s not selfishness or greed, it’s an illness – it’s really hard to walk away from them. I didn’t want to do that, but I also couldn’t let it be my life, or the life of any kids we might have. Thank f*** he sorted himself out.’
‘I relapsed a few times,’ Matt says, ‘but we knew how to get through it. I’ve been clean for quite a while now and that’s a daily thing for me.’
Emma gave birth to Isabelle in 2009, Ace in 2011 and Trixie in 2014. Do they talk to them about it? ‘They have to know, because of the way we live,’ says Emma. ‘We told the older ones. Trixie is too young. She knows Daddy doesn’t drink, but we’re not a drinking house so it’s not a big issue.’
‘Once kids are old enough there’s a conversation to be had about addiction,’ says Matt. ‘My son asked me, “Why don’t you have any any more?” I said, “I can’t. And I never will, a day at a time, for the rest of my life.”’
What will happen if their kids do drink or take drugs? ‘I want them to live their lives, but if they ever want to talk to me they can,’ says Matt.
‘They’re aware of their genetics,’ Emma adds. ‘They will make their choices. I would rather know what they’re doing and have them feel like they can chat about it.’
How do they feel about being seen as dating experts? ‘Don’t ask us, we haven’t got a clue,’ laughs Emma. ‘We like people-watching. I love matchmaking. I’ve done it for friends, but still not got a wedding out of it.’
Emma hosting Celebrity Big Brother in 2015. Matt praises the way his wife can out people at ease even if they haven’t been on TV before
Do they have date nights? ‘Yeah, we go out for dinner. If we can blag a night away, we’ll do that. We’re lucky because my sister lives with us,’ says Emma. Home is in Hertfordshire. ‘My parents help, they’re in Birmingham but they’re down all the time.’
How about the attention they get from other people? ‘I’m very publicly married,’ says Matt. ‘There are lots of girls at band shows but I never get a number thrown on stage. “I put a ring on it. Stay back.”’
How about Emma? ‘Oh, I couldn’t give a f*** about other people,’ she says forcefully. They both laugh. The testing times have brought them closer together.
‘That’s the thing, right?’ says Matt. ‘What makes a relationship is what you do in s*** times. Do you cut and run, or do you support each other?’
Despite his early nerves, Matt has come to love working with Emma. ‘I don’t want it to end. We get to spend all this time together. It’s nice. Less time on a sweaty tour bus with boys.’
‘I’m hoping people absolutely love the show,’ Emma concludes. ‘I can’t see how they can’t. People love watching love, don’t they?’
- Love Is Blind UK is available on Netflix from 7 August.
