My marriage to Spencer Matthews nearly didn't happen admits Vogue Williams as she reveals secret dating tip for singles
HER husband may raise money for charity and his brother is related to the Royal Family, but when it comes to the in-laws, Vogue Williams insists she is their favourite.
The TV presenter married Spencer Matthews in 2018, and his brother James wed Princess Kate's younger sister Pippa Middleton the year before.
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But in an exclusive interview, Vogue, 39, says: 'I am a firm favourite with my in-laws. I would say I'm even above the siblings.'
Hers is a marriage that very nearly did not happen, though, because Vogue admits she once thought that Spencer, 36, was a 'sociopath'.
He might now be a clean-living marathon runner, but in 2017, when they met on Channel 4 reality ski show The Jump, he was known for being a heavy-drinking party boy from Made In Chelsea.
Vogue says: 'I kind of met him with a preconceived idea, and I was like, 'I'm not going to like him' because I thought he was a sociopath.
'But after I met him, I loved his personality straight away . . . he was so sound, but I was being really good at being single and I wanted to stay single, so I thought, 'He's going to be a really good friend' — that's the first thing I thought.'
Fast forward eight years and the couple are now parents to Theodore, six, Gigi, four, and three-year-old Otto.
'I was feral'
But in her new memoir, Big Mouth, Vogue reveals how life wasn't always easy for her growing up in County Dublin, with her parents Sandra and Freddie separating when she was five.
And speaking to The Sun on Sunday, she explains how she found it tough when her own marriage to her first husband, Westlife star Brian McFadden, ended in divorce in 2017 — because she had never been single before.
Vogue says: 'I was just kind of a relationship girl, and in a way I regret that.
'I was in a relationship from when I was 18 for six-and-a-half years, and then another relationship, and then after my first marriage ended, I made the conscious decision to try to be single because I'd never actually been on my own.
Vogue Williams new book release
'I needed to be single.
'I absolutely hated it at the start, and then I loved it.
'I felt so in control of everything, and I was doing it on my own and I really enjoyed it.
'If you're a single girl in London, check out Battersea Park on a Saturday morning, and you can thank me later!'
But Vogue admits she initially struggled to play the dating game. Laughing loudly, she says: 'I'm kind of a frigid.
'Before I met Spen, I'd meet someone nice and I'd kiss them, and I thought I'd be nice and invite them back to the party that was happening at my house.
My parents were very strict, so we were always trying to find ways around that.
Vogue Williams
'And we'd get back to the party, and they'd turn around to me and go, 'Will we go to your room?'. And I'd be like, 'Why? The party is here'. I never clicked that they were never coming back just for the party, but for other stuff.'
However, Vogue's single days did not last long. She and Spencer tied the knot in June 2018 and she was firmly welcomed into the family fold by his multi-millionaire parents.
Since then, Vogue has landed DJ gigs on Virgin Radio and Heart, and fronted segments on ITV's Lorraine and Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch.
Meanwhile, Spencer is now sober, runs his own successful booze-free drinks brand, CleanCo, and last year ran 30 desert marathons in 30 days — all on sand.
It set a new Guinness World Record and raised more than £500,000 for Global's Make Some Noise, which supports small charities across the UK.
Between them, the power couple have more than two million followers on social media and their careers are going from strength to strength.
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Vogue also reveals that her in-laws — landowner and entrepreneur David Matthews and his wife Jane — are role models who 'have been together for ever' and are still 'really happy'.
She appears to have everything in life that could make her happy, too — but she says she has often struggled with the notoriously cut-throat showbiz world because she has never been 'cool'.
Vogue explains: 'I think, in this industry in particular, there is nothing wrong if you are not in the cool gang.
'Let's say Kate Moss — she was in the cool gang back in the day, and I just feel I wouldn't have been, and I'm OK with that.
'Some people think that they are really cool and wouldn't give you the time of day.
'Sometimes they'd say hi to you at an event, and sometimes they wouldn't, and I've got to a point in my life where I really don't care if I'm not cool.
'I'm just grand where I am and I have got really good friends who are still in my life since I was 12, that I made when I was in secondary school, and they are actually what's most important in life.
"My family are really amazing, and who I spend most of my time with.
'Spencer was raging'
'Then I come across people I love, and loads of people in the industry that I meet — they're sound.
'I was on Paloma Faith's podcast the other day and was really nervous because it's Paloma, but she was just fing hilarious and brilliant.
'She's pretty cool, so maybe I've got a foot in the door there!' Vogue has never fully left her Irish roots. For her book, she enjoyed reflecting on her life growing up.
She says: 'I loved going back to my childhood and going back through all the things my sister Amber and I used to do.
'My parents were very strict, so we were always trying to find ways around that.
'There was a swamp around the corner that we always wanted to swim in, but we weren't allowed.
'We'd go to our friends' house up the road and their parents didn't give a crap what they did.
'So, we would go to their house and put their clothes on and swim in the swamp.
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'Then we would go back and put our own clothes on and act like nothing had happened. I was feral.'
Soon, her own kids will be able to follow in her footsteps because she and Spencer are hoping to spend more time near her home town of Howth, Dublin, in a house the couple bought last year.
Vogue calls it their 'forever home', and they have put their apartment overlooking the River Thames up for sale, too.
They first listed it a year ago and have recently slashed the price by £1.3million to £3.9million.
Vogue says: 'I like to take the kids home as much as I can — I want them to have friends in Ireland, so that they always want to go back, and they enjoy spending time there.
'I want them to know Irish phrases if they can.
'They got the free Irish passports, so they've got to work for it a little bit. 'They wouldn't give Spenny one and he was raging.'
Chances are that Vogue made the decision to move because — even though she struggles to admit it — she likes being in control.
She says: 'I think when it comes to wearing the trousers between Spen and I, it shifts.
'I don't think anyone wants to wear the trousers full-time, do they? 'I don't. My therapist did tell me I was controlling though, so I fing fired him!'
But she admits: 'He was right — I do like controlling things.'
It's clearly a quality that her in-laws admire.
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