Matt Willis begged wife Emma to leave him after admitting 'I messed up'

Daily Mirror

24-04-2025

Matt and Emma Willis went through a rocky patch in their relationship in 2016 as the Busted star struggled with addiction.
Matt Willis has revealed there was a heart-wrenching moment in his life where he urged his wife Emma to leave him, admitting he worried he'd lost her trust for good after relapsing in his battle with addiction.
The Busted star, 41, spoke about Emma - who recently hailed her husband for staying by her side while undergoing heart surgery - after previously being open about his past struggles with substance abuse.
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In a recent episode of his On The Mend podcast, he decided to share a personal story about the toll his relapse took on his 16-year marriage. Matt confessed that during one particularly raw conversation, he told Emma to "get out while she still could". He admitted: "I put my family through something I never wanted to."
"And that can eat you up if you want it to. That can derail you, you know — I'm not willing to let that [happen], so I put the work in. It all comes from action."
Matt has previously spoken about using up to 6g of cocaine a day during his 2016 relapse, and on the podcast, he didn't shy away from the guilt and shame that followed.
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He shared: "I think the other option is standing up and going, 'Yeah, I f***** up, yeah I messed up and I'm sorry, I'm going to try harder and I'm going to try and be a better person.' And over time, that guilt and shame fades. And for me, it has."
Emma, 48, chose not to walk away when Matt was at his worst. Instead she offered him support, holding onto the belief that her husband could change.
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Matt mused: "I never thought my wife would trust me again. And she does. She really does. And that's because I've shown her that I'm trustworthy. These things are earned, not given."
He went on to explain that it wasn't about "talking a good talk", but showing consistent change through his actions. The couple has faced their fair share of challenges over the years, including Matt's high-profile rehab stints and a brush with Scientology.
But through it all they've remained determined to grow together, and even committed to couple's therapy when they hit a rough patch in 2020. Now their relationship has entered a brand new phase on screen as the couple started their first joint presenting gig.
The Willises are currently co-hosting Love Is Blind: UK. The hit Netflix reality show places singles in "pods", where they date and get engaged without ever seeing each other face to face. They only meet in person once a proposal has taken place, before testing out their relationship in the real world.
Matt admitted he was "nervous" about working with Emma at first, but says the experience has brought them closer. He added: "Normally, we have to be separate and go to work away from each other, and now we get to do something together and spend more time together. It's great."