2 days ago
Vogue Williams: ‘Spenny will have the odd drink, but I'd rather have a Coke Zero'
Vogue Williams logs into our scheduled Zoom chat from a sunbed under a straw beach umbrella in Spain. It is for a moment, slightly sickening.
Even more so when there are zero Wi-Fi issues, sure to happen if a normal, non-celeb human attempted something so riskily glamorous as 'Working From Beach'.
Williams wears oversized aviators and a relaxed co-ord emblazoned with words like gelato and limoncello. I half wonder why the working holiday isn't a statutory right for everyone – but then, Williams doesn't have a typical nine-to-five.
Part of a generation that has fashioned multi-hyphenate careers out of the entertainment industry, Williams – if you were wondering – is mostly famous for being her very genial self.
There are the three podcasts: My Therapist Ghosted Me with comedian Joanne McNally; Never Live It Down with various comedians; and Vogue & Amber with her sister, who replaced her husband, reality TV star Spencer Matthews, when he departed their previous podcast, Spencer & Vogue. And then there are her other ventures: Bare By Vogue, a self-tanning line, and Gen Kids Clothes, a range available at M&S and Next.
In May she released her autobiography, Big Mouth, a romp through the years leading up to now. It's a comedic take on her childhood in Ireland, her parents' divorce, her wayward teens and the change in family fortunes when her stepfather made a bit of money and they moved to a bigger house with two swimming pools and a tennis court.
It was he who insisted she go to university – something Williams heartily approves of, even if she did end up dropping out to pursue modelling (more Dublin street promotion than Paris catwalk, by her own admission) before getting her start in Irish reality TV on a programme called Fade Street. On the night it premiered, her father died. Williams has previously said: 'So the joke in my family is that he died because he was so embarrassed for me.'
What followed was a brief and ultimately misguided marriage to Westlife star Brian McFadden – 'I have nothing bad to say about that. That's as much as I'll say' – and then her reality TV meet-cute with Spencer Matthews, Made in Chelsea's notorious love rat, whom she fell for when they both appeared on The Jump in 2017.
All of which makes her unshakeable contentment ahead of turning 40 in October entirely understandable. With her 'wild times' behind her, Williams says, with her trademark wide smile: 'I'm so happy. I have three amazing children, a great husband. My family are healthy and happy, touch wood, and I'm doing a job that I love. And I just feel lucky to be turning 40 and to be at this current point in my life.'
The sun right now is shining for Williams in all ways. Her eldest two, Theodore, six, and Gigi, five, have just broken up from school and right now they're all in Sotogrande, southern Spain where Williams' mum and step-dad have an apartment. Her Auntie Jeanette is looking after two year old Otto just out of Zoom shot. Theodore and Gigi are at a kids camp for the afternoon. 'Spenny', as she calls him, is on his way to the beach bar for lunch. Not before he looms into view on our call, just to assert how much of a better cook he is than his wife of seven years.
We're ostensibly here to talk about her support for Hello Fresh's new campaign highlighting how Gen Air Fryer lacks basic cooking skills; one in three teens can't even make a dippy egg.
She's long used the brand to help break out of a rut – salads and steaks are her and Matthews' usual go-to – as well as to introduce the children to new flavours and get them involved in the cooking process.
'I would say, Spenny and I are both good cooks. He might be slightly better,' she starts to say. 'No, no, it wasn't an invitation,' says Williams as Matthews' tanned face hoves into view. 'Nonsense, I'm much better,' comes his verdict – and then he's off to have his lunch.
'I'm always fascinated by the amount he orders,' Vogue muses, watching him go. 'Me and my auntie had lunch before, and I thought, this is a very inexpensive bill. But then I realised he wasn't there, so I reckon his bill on his own will probably be double ours.'
Williams has previously said that Matthews' reputation meant she assumed he might be a sociopath. Instead, she found someone whose personality matched her own. The pair bounce off each other. 'It's so nice to have such a supportive partner,' says Williams.
Matthews, 36, has had something of an image overhaul in recent years: a weight-loss transformation, along with a well-received 2023 documentary about his brother Michael Matthews, who disappeared on Everest in 1999 after becoming the youngest Briton to reach the summit. Last year, Matthews ran 30 marathons in 30 days, setting a new Guinness World Record.
As a couple on holiday, you're more likely to find them up early and out for a run than up late on the sangrias. Matthews has previously spoken about his problems with alcohol, setting up Clean Co in 2019 to offer non-alcoholic alternatives.
'He'll have the odd drink sometimes,' says Williams, who isn't particularly fussed herself. 'I'd rather have a Coke Zero,' she adds.
On holiday, they're much the same as they are at home. 'It's a very active holiday. I wouldn't like to feel sluggish. That's why I've always kept up my fitness whenever I go away – because I actually genuinely enjoy it as well.'
Back home in London, their social lives aren't what they once were; it isn't an unfilmed episode of Made in Chelsea every day. Firmly in their family phase, life is now a whirl of tennis lessons, gymnastics, swimming and children's parties.
'They have a better social life than we do,' says Williams. When she and Spencer do get a date night, they love going out for dinner – but invariably eat so quickly they're done and home within an hour and fifteen minutes. 'We are really quick when we go because we're so hungry,' she laughs.
They also spend a lot of time with Williams' Irish crew, including her cousin Killian who lives in London. What do they make of Spencer?
'I remember when I first brought him back to Ireland, and when he started speaking, they were like, 'Where did he get that accent?'' laughs Williams.
'I remember being quite taken aback when I first heard it too, because it was just so posh. Now I don't really hear it so much anymore. Everyone gets on very well with him. He's very charming. He's lovely to be around. He's kind. And he's just still standing in the queue – for some reason he looks bizarre,' says Williams, still watching him from afar.
Matthews attended Eton, where he spent a lot of time in the headmaster's office. What does she make of the whole public school system in England?
'In Ireland, you just go to the school that's closest to your house, and not many people go to any kind of fee-paying school,' says Williams.
As a result, she's been very relaxed about where Theodore goes next. 'But Spenny was like, 'Oh, we need to put him down for this school'. I just couldn't understand the concept of it. I don't really like the idea of boarding because I didn't board myself and I love having the kids around me. But if Theodore got to the age where he wanted to go to boarding school, I wouldn't stand in his way either – but I don't think I'd be, like, advocating for it.'
They are equally close to Matthews' family. At Easter, they flew to Eden Rock, the luxury resort in St Barths owned by the Matthews' family and where he spent a lot of his childhood.
'It's pretty special. If he wanted to go more than once a year, I'd probably have to say, 'You should pay for the flights', but no, it's lovely there. But again, we kind of do the same stuff over there. We play a bit of tennis and it's very chilled.'
The children are close to their cousins. Matthews' older brother James – heir to the Scottish feudal title of Laird of Glen Affric, currently held by their father – is married to Pippa Middleton. Whether they have any relationship with the Prince and Princess of Wales, aka Kate and Wills, Williams won't say.
'You just have to respect other people's privacy in that way,' she states.
There's an obvious tightrope Williams walks when it comes to how much of her life to share. 'We are open. We talk about a lot on our podcasts, but that's just part of our job,' she says.
So where do the boundaries lie? Anyone can follow her on Instagram and get a snapshot of her holiday right now; 1.1 million already do. There are sweaty runs with Matthews – 'He takes me on his recovery runs, which are my fast runs,' she deadpans – family jumps into the pool Marvel superhero style, and celebrations like Gigi's birthday the day before.
'To be honest, we keep a lot of stuff private. We're open enough online,' says Williams.
Employing someone to look at her social media accounts helps keep that sense of distance.
'I don't have to be online too much. I think it's become quite a negative landscape. Look at that Coldplay couple. That just wouldn't have happened 15 years ago, and it's just gone viral. And everyone forgets there are families behind that who are really struggling. We're just turning it into memes.'
In March this year, Williams issued an Instagram statement quashing split rumours about her and Matthews' marriage, saying: 'It's with great sadness that I have to let you know that Spen and I are NOT breaking up!'
It's not something she wants to discuss today, but referring to the recent unmasking of the founder of Tattle Life – a controversial online gossip forum that directed 'commentary and critique' at influencers and celebrities – she says:
'I've been in the firing line of so many things, and I'm like anybody else, it can deeply affect you. There's nothing you can control about it.'
Her approach to tabloid gossip has been to accept that. 'You know your own truth. You know what's going on in our life. We know it's all bulls--t.'
Mute and move on has always been her way of handling online hate. 'We all know they're just bored.'
Although recently she had a woman message her apologising for something she had said to her online nearly two years ago.
'She said, 'I'm really sorry I was having such a bad day that day. And I just, like, reread that message I sent you because something popped up on my phone from your stories',' explains Williams. 'I thought, fair play to you. You've actually come back after all that time and apologised – that's really impressive.'
Next up is a house move, maybe a project where she can get her interior design fix. She'd love to do more TV work and perhaps collaborate with Matthews again if the right project comes along. Apart from that, she's happy. No midlife crisis beckons.
Is there really nothing she'd change? Maybe her name, it turns out. 'Vogue is just very, very tacky. It's cigarettes and a Range Rover.' She's still baffled as to why her mum chose it. 'It's not like she was some Jimi Hendrix kind of vibe person. She was very, very well behaved.'
It didn't bother Williams until she was about 14, when she got teased about it. 'Then around 18 and 19, it got cool again, and now I'm kind of going into the territory of, like, when I'm a granny, people saying, 'Who? Granny Vogue?''
HelloFresh has launched 'HelloFresh Skills' – a campaign backed by Vogue Williams, who supports the initiative and encourages families to get hands-on in the kitchen.
