A loved-up Joe Swash described Stacey Solomon as an 'angel' sent to him by his late father as she helped him through a tough period of his life.
Joe and Stacey tied the knot in 2022 after first going public with their relationship in 2016. But it was actually all the way back in 2010 when they first met, when Stacey was starring in I'm A Celebrity and Joe was hosting the spin-off show for ITV2.
They've since gone on to grow their family by three, welcoming children Rex and Rose before announcing the birth of their youngest, Belle, in February.
Just a few months after Joe and Stacey married in July 2022, Joe opened up about their romance in relation to the loss of his dad, who died when he was just 11 years old.
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Joe's dad had worked as a cab driver, and he recalled how 'everyone loved' him, saying: "1,000 people turned up to his funeral."
"All he was bothered about was his family," he continued. "I remember sitting round the dining table, talking, laughing… And then he died and everything changed.
"I bottled up my grief. I thought I had to be the man of the house. The only person I could break down in front of was Nanny Fran.”
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Fast forward to 2022, and as a married man Joe admitted he felt 'guilty' about how happy he was with his life, including his family and Stacey.
“There have been years when I had a lot of grief and went through a long depression, and I’d sort of given up on ever having a family and all this love,” he said.
But then Stacey came along.
Joe said: “I truly believe Stacey was an angel sent to me by my dad to bring me out of real darkness in my life. If I hadn’t met her, everything would have been very different. I don’t know what would have happened to me.”
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Their romance began when Stacey returned to the jungle to be a guest on ITV2's Extra Camp, and Joe decided to take a shot and try to kiss her.
Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan at first.
"She didn’t kiss me back," he said. "It was totally mortifying. But then we kept speaking by phone and stuff, and as soon as I got back to the UK, I went straight to her house from the airport.
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"Her whole family was there, so it was a bit full-on. But actually, it was sort of perfect. I’d met this incredible girl who was all about family.”
Now they've got a family of their own, Joe admitted during a recent appearance on Loose Women that the pair might not be done with kids yet, saying they would 'definitely think about' fostering children when their own youngsters have grown up.
Topics: Mental Health, Joe Swash, Stacey Solomon, Sex and Relationships, Parenting, Celebrity
Emily Brown