Holly Willoughby couldn't hide the smile from her face as she recalled meeting her husband for the first time and the sudden moment that romance blossomed between the pair. The This Morning host met Dan Baldwin when she hosted Ministry of Mayhem with fellow ITV star Stephen Mulhern back in 2004.
Dan was one of the show's producers and he has also been behind many other top show's, using his production company Hungry Bear Media which he co-founded in 2014 with Juliet Denison. Three years after meeting, Holly and Dan tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony at St Michael's Church on the South Downs in West Sussex and now share three children together - Harry, Belle, and Chester.
Ahead of Valentine's Day on February 14, which comes days after Holly's birthday, the TV star has appeared in a video on the Instagram account for her spiritual and lifestyle brand, Wylde Moon. In the clip, the mum-of-three could be seen keeping warm in a dark teddy fleece coat and beige jumper.
Her blonde locks were tucked behind her ears as she spoke to the camera with a beaming look across her face. "When Holly met Dan… With the season of love just around the corner Holly shares her own love story… There’s a little something in the air….can you feel it? 27.01.23," the caption of the video read.
"We met when I was doing Saturday morning kids telly, and he was the producer and I was the presenter," Holly, 41, then began the lengthy video. "And I remember I'd already been there for about eight months I think, and then he came in as our new producer, and we started this real intense friendship.
"It was mad actually, there was sort of two other guys that started at the same time, and we just became inseparable. We'd rehearse, and then we'd go out afterwards, and then we'd end up... We were filming down in Maidstone Studios and we used to stay in a hotel there.
"And you know everybody would go to the bar and then everybody would come back into either my room or their room and we'd all sit round just talking and laughing, and I just remember it just being such a fun time. I always describe that time as sort of my university years, really."
Holly, who is currently also hosting Dancing on Ice every Sunday with Phillip Schofield, continued: "And this must have been six months of real intense friendship and I remember this one night we were in the bar. I cheersed Dan, and I remember my eye just caught him for a little bit longer than it should have done, and I looked at him, and thought oh my god, I fancy Dan Baldwin."
She admitted: "And it took me by complete surprise, and then the rest is history." Holly laughed as she shared how she and Dan got together "pretty quickly after that" and shared how looking back now, she thinks that her "intense friendship" with her now-husband was probably her "falling in love".
Adding what she thinks is key to their, and any, relationship, Holly said: "I think that's a really good basis for romance, because we have that friendship still now." She added: "We've got three beautiful children, and we're very happy and I'm very blessed every day for having him in my life.
"But really underpinning all of that, is that real friendship and laughter, and just having good times together, I think, is the real secret to keeping things as they are, which is lovely." The post was quickly flooded with people sharing their own romance stories while @jo19seventy simply commented: "Awww," and @beautywillsxx said: "This is beautiful."
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