From Scientology to Addiction… Inside Matt and Emma Willis’ Unconventional Marriage

THEY ARE one of the country’s most popular celebrity couples and have stuck together through thick and thin.

No Busted singer Matt Willis, 41, and TV presenter Emma are set to co-host Netflix dating show Love Is Blind.

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It comes a year after they spoke candidly about his battle with drink and drug addiction, admitting how it has affected his marriage to his devoted wife Emma, ​​47.

When he relapsed, he would leave her and their three children – Isabelle, 14, Ace, 12, and eight-year-old Trixie – to snort cocaine.

Matt said he worried Emma would leave him “many, many times” but is “grateful” she didn’t, adding: “It’s always hard to hear other people telling your wife to go away, but it’s understandable at the time. I can’t imagine where I would be without her.”

But faithful Emma refused to give up and now the couple, who married in July 2008 and renewed their vows 10 years later, are happier than ever.

Here, we take a look at their unconventional marriage, which has overcome the curse of show business and stood the test of time.

Emma and Matt met in 2004, when he was starring on Busted and she was presenting MTV.

The following year they started dating, but Matt spent the 2000s in rehab regularly for his alcohol and drug addiction.

In fact, he sought help when their relationship was only three months old.

But Emma stayed with him and refused to leave his side.

She previously told The Telegraph: “I wouldn’t leave him because he had a problem.

“I wanted to help him, but he had to help himself and I believed he would do that.”

Matt has been sober since 2008, but Emma believes fatherhood forced him to turn his life around.

The former Big Brother presenter said: “What really changed him was our daughter, Isabelle.

“He already did it [recovery] himself, then she came and that made him even more determined.”

‘Scientology almost tore us apart’

Despite Emma’s support for her husband, Matt admitted he later became “fully involved” with Scientology – an organisation that believes humans are immortal spiritual beings and has been accused of brainwashing.

Matt said he visited the movement’s London headquarters, which included Tom Cruise, every day.

But he began to believe that the group wanted to separate him from his wife.

He previously told The Sun: “I had just come out of rehab, a bit lost in the world. I was walking down Tottenham Court Road and a man approached me and asked me a few simple questions.

“Before I knew it, the next week I was standing outside the Scientology building. I went every day. I bought different books and took different courses. I was in.

“They put me in touch with a young guy who was very, very involved. His mother and father were part of the big league.

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“We’ve been doing one-on-one work, all questions about my life – what’s going on, what’s holding me back and what’s holding me back from my potential?

“They were like, ‘There’s someone in your life who’s really draining you, who’s a negative force, and that’s normally the person closest to you.’ And then it’s like, ‘I think they’re trying to break up my f*****g marriage right now.’

“They tried to force this strange opinion on me. Looking back now, I thought, ‘Are you trying to separate me from the rest?’

“Then you’re really in it, because you have no family or friends and your family and friends are the Church of Scientology. It took me a while to think, ‘Wait a minute, what the f*** is this?’

“They didn’t want me to f*****g leave. They brought in other people when I spoke up to talk about the concerns I had.

“I never went back, I didn’t call them anymore. But they called me every day for a month and they would just pop into my texts every six months, eight months, like, ‘Hey, Matt, how are you?’”

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Matt left the church after three months of study, following a “big argument,” but until recently he stuck with Dianetics, the Scientology bible written by L. Ron Hubbard.

He admitted on his podcast When No One’s Watching: “I didn’t throw Dianetics away until about two years ago.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to f***ing read that one day.’ I tried it. It’s f*****g huge and really boring. I read about eight pages. It doesn’t make any sense.”

And he had one final warning for anyone interested in joining Scientology: “It’s a very, very strange place, so if anyone is considering checking it out, I would advise against it.”

Gender neutral parenting

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In 2020, Emma was praised for ‘breaking gender stereotypes’ when she shared a photo of her son Ace in the kitchen of their £1.7million Hertfordshire home, wearing a pink crop top and long, blonde locks.

She captioned the post: “My little style icon (Ace, not Matt).”

Emma and Matt have allowed their children to be who they want and wear what they want, hoping that they will be open-minded later in life.

Fans praised the presenter in the caption of the image, with one saying: “Shows how far we can go in breaking gender stereotypes. Pink is just a colour. Hair grows. Let kids (or adults) wear whatever they want!”

Emma admitted she was shocked by the response, telling Good Morning Britain: “It’s just my son in a pink top and to me that’s normal.

“He likes color, he’s always had long hair.

“He’s a very free and open-minded guy who doesn’t really, well, he thinks, ‘Why do I have to wear green, blue or gray when I like pink, red and purple?’

“I tried to raise him to be a very open-minded boy.”

She later told The Sun: “I think it’s a very individual, personal thing. You know, my son likes what he likes, and I can’t stop him from expressing himself or experimenting with clothes the way he wants.

“I see it as hair is hair, clothes are clothes, and color is color. And you know, if my son wants to wear a pink top, I’m definitely not going to stop him.

“Let kids explore. Kids love exploring. And they don’t just have to explore in the mud with worms and spiders, they can explore with color and clothes and hair. I just let him be himself.”

Teletubby style country house

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Emma and Matt regularly share glimpses of their £1.7million Hertfordshire home on social media. And as you’d expect from such a stylish couple, it’s beautifully decorated.

Instagram photos of the home include a large kitchen island, bright green couch, leopard-print cushions and a white piano.

With an idyllic view, quirky artwork, countless instruments and even a Brit Award, the couple’s home is picture-perfect.

The site borders open farmland and is a short drive from Elstree Studios for Big Brother and Emma, ​​the Celebrity Big Brother presenter.

The couple plan to add a quirky twist to their traditional home and have received permission from planners to build a Teletubbies-style grassy hill at the end of their garden.

They planned to dump soil from digging a swimming pool at the end of their garden to create a 1.5-metre-high green hill, similar to Teletubbyland in the 90s children’s series.

The plan for the new garden included a sunken trampoline and oak swing, four parasol-shaped trees in a cube-shaped planting bed, a green oak pergola with a green roof and edges with a river bank.

Renew their vows

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To celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary in 2018, Emma and Matt hosted a vow renewal party at the same venue where they got married, Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire.

And to make the day even more special, the couple asked all their friends and family to wear their wedding dresses, and Emma did the same.

The guest list included Rochelle and Marvin Humes, Tom and Giovanna Fletcher, Danny and Georgia Jones and Stephen Mulhern, who officiated at the ceremony.

Matt, who co-founded McBusted with McFly, even got the McFly boys to play on that special day.

Emma explained to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on This Morning why she asked her guests to come in their wedding or bridesmaid dresses.

She said, “I just think it’s fun to wear it again, if you can, or just personalize it.”

Although Emma and Matt’s relationship isn’t conventional, it certainly works.