EXCLUSIVE Revealed: What REALLY happened after the cameras stopped rolling to couple from My Mum, Your Dad. They captured nation's hearts after children set them up. Now in exclusive interview they reveal if they're still together

Daily Mail​

03-05-2025

Both were, to be frank, at an age when they presumed romance - the fireworks, the anticipation, the butterflies in the stomach - was far behind them.
How utterly endearing then to find that Jenny Francis, 51, and Danny Wright, 49 - the couple who so captured all our hearts on ITV dating show, My Mum, Your Dad, last year - are not only still together but now talking about marriage as their 'ultimate goal'.
The pair met in April last year after Jenny's son Malachi, 20, who appeared alongside her on the show - in which children of single parents put them forward for matchmaking - signed her up as a contestant. Danny, meanwhile, was put forward by his 20-year-old daughter Tallulah.
And so strong was the attraction that Jenny had already told Danny she loved him before the show had even aired on television.
'I didn't want to say it first and then it just came out by accident,' Jenny confesses in this exclusive joint interview. 'I was in Danny's kitchen. It was so early on, before the show even aired!
'My girlfriends were like, don't you say it first! I just thought life is too short, you've just got to say how you feel, you could be dead tomorrow.'
Silver-haired Danny was a little more cautious about showing his feelings at first.
'I'd resigned myself to being single for the rest of my days,' he admits. 'Mentally, I was trying to be guarded about it, regardless of the fact that the feelings were there.'
But 12 months on, it is Danny who brings up the M word.
'We've talked, not in-depth about marriage and moving in, but we both understand that that is the ultimate goal,' he reveals. And long term, he has plans to move to Cheshire where Jenny lives.
'It's beautiful. I would love to live up there,' he says. 'When I go there, I feel immediately relaxed because it's such a lovely area. We could retire up there.'
For now, though, the couple are juggling their blossoming relationship with the needs of their children - between them, they have five - and that means a 600-mile round trip to see each other as Danny still lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, to be near three of his children, while Jenny lives in Altrincham with her only son Malachi.
'It's difficult in the short term,' admits Danny, a sales controller. 'Jenny does 90 per cent of the travelling. I'm quite rooted in Eastbourne at the moment. My job is quite demanding, as well as my son being young.
'I've been up a few times, and can get up for the odd weekend here and there, whereas Jenny has more flexibility in her life. I wouldn't say it's made it easier but it's made it possible. Without that bit of flexibility it really would have been a problem. But like I've always said, anything worth having, is always going to need effort putting in.'
Their two blended families have yet to meet en masse because of the logistics involved but the couple, who have just returned from their first holiday together, are hopeful it will happen sooner than later.
Meanwhile, Danny has formed a strong bond with Jenny's son, Malachi, who she raised alone and Jenny has become close to Tallulah.
'It was the nicest thing, the first thing Jenny did when she first came to stay with me was to ask for Tallulah's phone number,' says Danny. 'She wanted to take her to lunch, get to know her.
'Now these two have become close. They'll go off to get their nails done when I'm at work, go out and have lunch. It's heartwarming really. Jenny has made her feel really included.'
Danny's youngest son Leyton, seven, has also fallen for Jenny.
'I have Leyton quite a lot through the week,' says Danny. 'Most times when I pick him up after work his first words are: 'Is Jenny home?'
'If she's staying here, she'll have his dinner ready for him, they'll play, and be rolling around on the floor.'
Problems when they do come - as they do in all relationships - only surface when the couple are not together and thankfully, despite the distance between them, the longest they've been separated so far is a month.
Danny reflects: 'We're just a normal couple and we'll bicker and fight. When we're together we very rarely have a cross word. It tends to be more when we're in different ends of the country. Jenny will have a crappy day, and I've had a crappy day, I'm a bit more relaxed but for Jenny she'll overthink things.
'I might make light of something but she'll snap and tell me I don't take things seriously.
'But one thing Jenny is extremely good at is she will snap out of an argument really quickly. I do love that about her. I can't stand people who sulk. And even if you haven't had a row, you've got to figure out what you've done for them to stop talking to you. I can't deal with that.
'I've always said to Jenny if you've got a problem with me, tell me, and we'll fix it. So that's how we deal with things.'
The couple clearly adore each other and seeing them act like besotted teenagers is enough to make even the most hard-hearted soften - especially when one considers the bumpy road both had before they found each other.
Indeed, Danny has both been the victim and the bad guy in matters of the heart, splitting with his wife - the mother of two of his children, Ellis, 22, who now lives in London, and Tallulah, 20 - after having an affair.
This, he insists, is something he's still ashamed of.
He then went on to have another relationship after his divorce, from which he has his seven-year-old son Leyton. During emotional scenes on the show, hosted by Davina McCall, Ellis revealed that Danny had been left heartbroken when his ex-partner left him for another man.
Reflecting on the bumps in his romantic path, Danny, who also has an older son, Ashley, 28, said: 'I was married to my wife for about 10 years but we were together for a long time before that. I've only been married once.
'We had a lovely life and maybe a bit of boredom set in. Somebody paid me a bit of attention at work, and it turned into an affair.
'Even after we separated, sold the house and moved on, I never admitted it to anybody until I did the programme.
'But my ex-wife and I have a really good relationship now. She was my biggest supporter going into the show. And a big part of the show is having to talk about your past relationships and I thought there's no point hiding anything. The only way to deal with this is complete honesty.
'The difficult thing for me was I was so ashamed of what I did. I came from a broken home myself and never wanted that for my children. So for that to happen because of me, I was so ashamed of myself. I still am.'
Jenny split from her son's father 15 years ago, and they divorced four years later. She is reluctant to talk about the break up but admits that the experience left her nervous about dating again.
'I still have insecurities,' she says. 'I still feel that it could possibly go wrong. I overthink things. And I've got to battle with that inner voice sometimes. I think that's just through life experience and what you've been through.
The only black woman to take part in the second series, Jenny admits she thought this meant she'd never get the guy.
'When I went in, I thought I've not got a chance! I'll just have a nice time and see what happens. But never did I think that I'd walk away with THE guy.'
While Danny hasn't observed any negativity towards them as a couple because of Jenny's race, she has, and says: 'You can just sense it. There were comments like 'Oh I didn't see them two together' and there were certain comments online. In the back of my head, I'd be like, 'Why are you thinking that?'. I kind of knew what it was.'
Danny adds: 'Jenny is the first black girl I've ever dated. The racism part...it makes me angry. You want to reach out and say: 'Stop being so vile' but luckily there hasn't been much hate online. I've been surprised at how much love we've had.
'The most offensive it got for me was when a couple of people said I looked like Gary Barlow and another then replied 'He's more Ken Barlow than Gary.'
As for the 'ultimate goal' of marriage, when might that happen?
Danny admits: 'I have thought about it. But what I don't want to have is a long engagement. In my mind, when it gets to that stage, I'd like to propose and then get married.
'We've talked about it. Neither of us wants the big wedding. The important bit for me is to call Jenny my wife. That means more to me than any big day itself.'