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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Courtney Pochin & Frances Kindon

Sarah Beeny can't tell husband she loves him - despite being married for 20 years

As a new episode of Sarah Beeny's New Life in the Country airs on Channel 4 this evening, viewers will watch the property expert continue to work on her dream home in Somerset, which she shares with her husband Graham Swift, and their four kids.

The couple has enjoyed an incredibly long-lasting relationship by celebrity standards, having first met when Sarah was just 18 and Graham was 19 - and they're still going strong more than 30 years later.

They met in a rather unexpected way, as Sarah's older brother Diccon was dating Graham's sister Caroline.

Diccon believed Sarah and Graham would hit it off and initially, she wasn't thrilled by the idea of dating her brother's girlfriend's brother, but that quickly went out the window when she saw him.

The pair met when Sarah was 18 and Graham was 19 (Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)

Their whirlwind teen romance saw them move in together after just two weeks of dating, much to the 'horror' of her parents.

"We were really young — he was 18 and I was 19. We moved in two weeks later and we bought a flat together about three months later," the 51-year-old told The Sun.

"I look at 18-year-olds now and think, 'God, if they came home and said they were buying a flat together, I would be horrified'.

"I don't blame them for feeling that, but it does make me take young people's relationships more seriously than other people might."

The couple went on to set up a property-developing business with Diccon before Sarah landed her career-making opportunity on Property Ladder in 2001.

Two years later, in 2003 Sarah and Graham tied the knot and went on to have four sons, Billy, Charlie, Rafferty, and Laurie.

The couple have four sons (Channel 4)

Despite now having been married for 20 years, the pair have rarely told each other they love one another, all because of a long-standing joke that dates back to their early dating days.

Sarah previously explained: "When we first met, we joked about people who meet and say the 'love' word after two-and-a-half seconds – when they're only saying it because they want to s**g you.

"It became a standing joke and as a result, we can't say it to each other.

"When he's not looking though, I tell the kids I love him. And I've heard them ask him if he loves mummy. He's looked at me and said through gritted teeth: 'Yes, I love your mother very much'. It's funny."

She added: "I wouldn't know what to say if he did tell me he loved me. I'm not that good at that sort of thing. Graham often says it's a good thing he's not romantic because I’m c**p at accepting it."

In 2013, the property star told The Mirror she and Graham frequently threatened to get divorced when their kids were young.

She said: " We argue all the time. I'll say 'I want to divorce you – you're horrible!' But doesn’t everyone who's married?

"We need to stop using the D-word quite so much because the children are getting a bit concerned.

"Having said that they're probably so used to it. Now that they hear us mention 'divorce' and they're like, 'whatever!'"

The 51-year-old claims her kids have often heard them speak of divorce (sarah.beeny/Instagram)
The TV presenter has been given the all-clear by doctors (INSTAGRAM)

But while they may make divorce threats from time to time, Sarah claims there's no way she'd leave Graham as he's her 'rock' and she adores him.

"I'm married to someone who is really good-looking, really talented, makes me laugh, and is loyal. I don't know what else you could want in a husband," the mum confessed to The Sun.

Together the couple and their kids have starred in Beeny's Restoration Nightmare, which followed their quest to restore the Grade II-listed Rise Hall in Yorkshire. And more recently they filmed New Life in the Country about their attempts to leave London and build a carbon-neutral home in Somerset.

" I do joke about divorce as it's funny, but there's no possibility I could've done ­anything I've done without Graham. I'm not the rock with him as the support – he's the rock while I'm floundering around," she previously told The Mirror.

"We're very much partners in business, and in life. He is my best friend and it's fun being with somebody you get on with and know inside out."

Graham has continued to be a rock for Sarah throughout her recent breast cancer battle - even though she almost didn't let him.

Speaking to The Mail three weeks after her diagnosis in August 2022, she confessed she didn't allow Graham to attend the appointment to receive her test results with her and she considered not telling him about them.

"There was a little moment where I thought, maybe I won't tell anyone. I won't even tell him. I don't know why; maybe I thought if I did that it wouldn't become real. That didn't last very long," she said.

The mum-of-four has since undergone chemo and radiotherapy, had a double mastectomy, embraced hair loss and a new look, and has been given the all-clear by doctors after a tough fight.

She was praised for her honesty throughout, with people loving how open she was about her diagnosis and treatment.

Speaking recently to Christine Lampard on ITV's Lorraine about getting the all-clear, she said: "It's good but it's weird, the doctors sort of kind of go 'oh right that's it then, that's the end of that' and you're like, 'how do you know?' Then they go, we don't but we think so.

"It's an ongoing thing. I have to take drugs for years and be very vigilant. It's been a kind of weird ride."

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