Westlife's Kian Egan and Hollyoaks star Jodi Albert happy in their bubble as they reveal new baby plans
Celebrity couple on the key to happiness with Irish singer set to release his debut solo album
Tiny, tanned, blow-dried and preened, Westlife star Kian Egan and singer-actress wife Jodi Albert look like they’ve swallowed the rule book on how to be a model showbiz couple.
Just before we settle down to talk glitz and glamour in a smart London club, they ask to book a table for dinner. I presume they’ll sail straight in.
Cue sharp intake of breath – mine - when the snooty receptionist snaps: ‘We don’t have any tables’.
The scene is set for a diva-ish hissy fit. But surprisingly, there’s no more than a nano-second of tumbleweed. The pair couldn’t be less fussed.
“It’s not a problem. It’s just nice to be out together, it’s like a date night,” say the pair, who have a three-year-old son, Koa.
These two, who met in 1999 as young popsters at Party In The Park – Kian with mega-selling boy band Westlife, Jodi just 15 and a member of girl group Girl Thing (Simon Cowell’s unsuccessful rival to The Spice Girls) don’t follow showbiz rules after all.
As I discover again when I ask them if they’re planning another baby. Rather than smile shyly, titter and tell me “All in good time”, they dive straight in.
“By the end of the year I want another bun in the oven, absolutely” says Kian. “It happened quick the last time. It was ‘Wham, bam, thank you mam’. I’m a one- shot wonder, I have strong swimmers, apparently.”
“Or maybe that was the vodka and Redbull you had the night before, babe?” Jodi giggles. “When can you fit me into your schedule, dear? As long as I’m not ovulating on your album’s release day!”
So there we go.
The album in question – Kian’s solo debut called Home – is out on Tuesday – but on this subject he speaks with less confidence. He’s surprised a record company approached him to make one, and needed some convincing to go ahead.
The 33-year-old Irish crooner’s shadowy position in Westlife maybe the reason. He was never the most recognisable face in the band and when they split in 2012 he became almost invisible.
That is until a stint in the I’m a Celebrity jungle last December – and his crowning as king – propelled him into the limelight again. And he readily admits it. Along with how nervous he was when the record label came knocking before he’d even wiped the jungle mud from his boots.
“I thought it was over after Westlife. I became one of the backing vocalists. Your confidence gets shattered a bit. I got to a point where I felt I wasn’t strong enough to command a lead vocal.
“In a weird way I was behind the scenes, the guy on the phone making sure everything was happening, the businessman.
I was stepping in for the photo and then got back on the phone.
“So it was daunting when it came to this album. It took me a bit of convincing from my other half. She was saying ‘You should do it babe – you’re well able to do it’.”
Jodi, 30, is a huge influence on his life. The girl who starred in Hollyoaks at 19 after her band flopped is in awe of her husband. In fact, the pair seem completely besotted with each other.
She says: “I coached him at home. Kian has always been a little rocker. We’d be in the kitchen and I’d be saying ‘Sing this chorus, sing it, sing it’. I said ‘Sing it out like you deserve to sing it’ – and he sounded unbelievable, like a young Brian Adams.”
Kian pauses to pluck a stray hair from Jodi’s jacket, smiling despite himself.
We change the subject before things get too mushy. Have the Westlife lads been supportive too?
“They know music’s a passion – they’ve been supportive but I don’t see them often, we live different lives. Shane is on tour, Nicky has a show in Dublin and a new baby,” he says.
“They’re like cousins,” Jodi adds. “You love them but don’t see them every day or every week.”
A natural team player rather than leader, Kian initially came across in the jungle as the good guy, melting into the background as Joey Essex took centre stage. It seemed like Westlife all over again.
Until, that is, the moment Jodi flew out for a brief, teary, reunion. From one emotional embrace a king (and queen) of the jungle were born.
“People decided they wanted to see more of us as a couple,” says Jodi, looking genuinely bemused. “His fans have always been nice to me. I always say if they are fans of Kian they have good taste. I’m grateful – they’ve created his whole career!”
Kian admits he is the more ambitious of the pair. While Jodi recently appeared on ITV’s The Big Reunion with Girl Thing, she said she has no plans to re-form.
Frustratingly, they were on the brink of major success with a song called Pure and Simple when their management ditched them and gave it to newly-formed reality TV group Hear’Say.
She’s been very happy to be mum to their son at homes in Ireland and Essex. But since the jungle she and Kian have been in demand as a double act. they sing a duet on his album and did presenting stints on Daybreak and This Morning.
Of the duet, Kian says: “I let the idea settle for two weeks before I asked Jodi. I was going, ‘Will this be Katie and Peter Part 2?’ But Jodi’s an amazing singer.”
She adds: “We always said we’d never do a duet. We always said we don’t do cheese. But I adored the song, I enjoyed doing it.
“We sing around the house all the time. We sing Foo Fighters together.”
If not Katie and Peter, do they see themselves as the next Richard and Judy?
“It’s nice going to work together,” says Kian. “But Richard and Judy – that was a huge commitment. Perhaps we could do snippets of it!”
But if any couple could stand it, I suspect it would be these two – who shared their first kiss when Jodi was 17 and got together properly two years on. Kian jokingly reveals their secret. “I married someone hot!” he says, as Jodi blushes and giggles, “Thanks, babe”.
But there’s more to it. The couple have had ups and downs, including Kian’s dad dying from cancer and Jodi battling post-natal depression. During that episode she says Kian “became super-dad, letting me lie in and bringing me chocolate.”
But they’ve never been close to splitting.
“We like hanging out, we’re friends,” says Jodi. “That’s the reason we have lasted so long, and are in love. Last New Year we just decided to go to the pub with each other. We don’t need anything else.
“None of this was planned. We didn’t go for the jungle to re-launch our careers. Kian was offered I’m a Celebrity when Westlife first split but it was too soon. But this time it felt right to try it. We’re enjoying it, but never do anything for the limelight. We’d prefer to be at home.
“Yesterday we took our baby to Colchester Zoo, got ice cream, and then Kian cooked a roast, we had a glass of wine, watched Mr Selfridge and went to bed. We’re so happy in our family bubble.
Kian agrees: “I’m 14 years in Westlife, Jodi had an amazing career – so what we do now is cherry on the cake.”
Jodi adds: “We’re beach bums, not flash, we like surfing and the camper van. We have one car, it’s dirty, and has a car seat.”
And by the end of the year, if Kian’s swimmers do their thing, it will probably have another one too.
Source: mirror.co.uk