Matt Willis has revealed the major turning point in his marriage. The Busted star said he managed to persuade Emma Willis to try something new after realising something needed to change.
Busted star Matt, 41, has been married to former Big Brother presenter Emma, 49, since 2008, and the pair now share two daughters and a son.
Prior to tying the knot, however, Matt spent the early days of their relationship struggling with drug and alcohol abuse issues – even going to rehab just a month before the wedding after Emma issued an ultimatum.
Matt also had a brief brush with Scientology, but quit the controversial church after they tried to make him dump his wife-to-be.
While not specifying what the problems were, Matt shared that he and Emma had “certain things they couldn’t get past” in their relationship, leading to the couple going to therapy in 2020.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Matt said that “Emma was definitely not up for it” when he first raised the idea of couple’s counselling, but is now “really pleased” they gave it a go. “It’s been transformative,” he gushed.
The I’m a Celebrity winner added: ‘I think people instantly jump to the fact that you need therapy because you’re in trouble, that’s the pre-conceived notion. But we weren’t in trouble, we just had certain things that we couldn’t get past.”
Matt divulged that therapy helped him and Emma “fully understand each other” and get the best out of each other after decades together.
“That’s been the real turning point, actually going ‘I want to really understand what you want and how to give that to you and what you want from me, and how I can do that.’ But also staying true to ourselves,” he described.
The EastEnders alum explained that it was “important” to have an outside eye to “see what you’re both trying to communicate and helping you communicate to each other,” even if your marriage isn’t in trouble to begin with.
Matt and Emma now work together alongside sharing their lives, having started presenting Love Is Blind: UK with his wife last year. The musician admitted that at first he was “nervous” to work with his partner, but working with Emma ended up being “like a dream.”
“Normally, we have to be separate and go to work away from each other and now, we get to do some things together and spend more time together, it’s great,” he fawned.
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.