Celebrity Big Brother’s Emma Willis reveals she feared husband Matt's drug addiction would kill him

The presenter talks TV and tough times
Opening up: Emma Willis was fearful during the early days of her relationship
Matthew Eades/Cosmopolitan
Emma Powell3 January 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Emma Willis has opened up about her husband’s drug and alcohol addiction, saying she always expected a “horrific phone call”.

The Celebrity Big Brother presenter, 40, said she feared Matt Willis wouldn’t get through the tough time during the early days of their relationship.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan she said she was scared of "the unknown" and of "not knowing whether he could do it. And not knowing if he’d come home".

She continued: "I always thought that there would be a pretty horrific phone call, but thankfully there wasn’t... it’s taught him who’s boss. It’s just another layer of something you go through. Lots of people don’t have that layer, but we do.

Earning her TV stripes: Emma Willis talks TV and tough times (Matthew Eades/Cosmopolitan )
Matthew Eades/Cosmopolitan

"The only thing I can compare it to is Matt saying that the minute he saw me give birth, it changed everything. It’s just a whole different level of respect. It’s knowing how much strength they have to be able to do that. When you see somebody so sick and then curing themselves, it’s mind-blowing. If you can crack that, you can crack anything. Hopefully, we won’t have to face anything worse.”

Emma – who has three children Isabelle, six, Ace, four, and Trixie, eight-months, with Matt – said they work as a couple because they haven’t forgotten their roots.

Loved up: Emma Willis and her husband of nearly a decade, Matt 

“We like each other,” she said. “We have a lot of fun and neither of us thinks of ourselves as grown-ups.

“We’re also both working class people who are like, ‘S***, this is good, we’ve done alright.’ He keeps me young and I keep him sensible.”

Emma was speaking ahead of her return to fronting Celebrity Big Brother tonight. The TV presenter will welcome a bunch of old and new housemates for the All Stars V New Stars series.

Celebrity Big Brother House 2017 - In pictures

1/6

Speaking about landing the job on the Channel 5 show, Emma said: “Big Brother is the one thing I thank. It gave me confidence because I knew the subject matter. I’d been on Big Brother’s Little Brother as a guest when Dermot O’Leary hosted it and I’d never missed an episode.

“I’m passionate – perhaps too passionate – about it. You do get criticism for a show like Big Brother. Everybody has an opinion on whether I’m a good presenter or not.”

Read the full interview in the February issue of Cosmopolitan – on sale Wednesday, January 4.

Celebrity Big Brother starts tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

Cover star: Emma Willis graces the front cover (Matthew Eades/Cosmopolitan )
Matthew Eades/Cosmopolitan

Follow @StandardEnts or like us on Facebook for more entertainment news.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in