HOLLY WILLOUGBY has given a rare insight into her loving marriage with her TV producer husband, Dan Baldwin.
The pair first met on the set of the CITV show, Ministry of Mayhem, for which Holly was a presenter alongside Stephen Mulhern.
Holly, 41, is happily married to the production executive and they share three children together, Harry, 13, Belle, 11, and eight-year-old Chester.
But she opened up on the start of her relationship for her lifestyle brand Wylde Moon’s Instagram account.
She said: “We met whilst I was doing Saturday morning kids telly, and he was the producer and I was the presenter.
“I’d already been there for about eight months, and then he came in as our new producer.
Although Holly admits the pair started off as friends, their bond quickly developed into something more.
“We started this real, intense friendship. It was mad, actually. There were two other guys who started at the same time and we just became inseparable.
“We’d rehearse and we’d go out afterwards.
“We were filming in Maidstone Studios, so we used to stay in a hotel there and everybody would go to the bar and everyone would come back and go to my room or their room and we’d all just sit back talking and laughing. I just remember it being such a fun time.
“I always describe that time as my university years. This must have been six months of real, intense friendship.
“I remember this one night we were in the bar and I cheers-ed Dan and I remember my eye just caught his a little bit longer than it should have done, and I looked at him and thought, ‘Oh my God, I fancy Dan Baldwin,’ and it took me by complete surprise.
“The rest is history and we got together pretty quickly after that.”
The This Morning presenter added: “Looking back on it now, I think what I was thinking was intense friendship was probably me falling in love, and I think that’s a really good basis for romance, because we have that friendship still now.”
She also admitted that even though she is now happily married, that original friendship remains the basis for their whole marriage.
The Games host explained: “We’ve got three beautiful children and I’m very happy, and very blessed every day for having him in my life.
“But underpinning all of that with that real friendship and laughter and just having good times together is the real secret to keeping things as they are, which is lovely.”
