Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly has been married to TV presenter Vernon Kay for almost 20 years, but their life as a married couple didn’t get off to the best start
Tess Daly previously revealed how devastating news left her “broken on the inside” just days following her marriage to Vernon Kay.
The Strictly presenter and TV host Vernon have been an item for more than two decades, having first crossed paths in 2001. By September 2003, the couple had exchanged vows.
The adored celebrity duo – who call a stunning six-bedroom countryside property in Buckinghamshire home – went on to have two daughters, Phoebe, who arrived in 2004, and Amber, born in 2009.
Yet married life got off to a heartbreaking start for Tess and Vernon, as merely 18 days following their nuptials, Tess’ father tragically died from emphysema. According to the NHS, emphysema is a lung condition where the air sacs become damaged.
“I fell apart,” Tess revealed in 2006, reflecting on losing her father. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “I miss him so much, every day.”, reports Wales Online.
Tess went on: “I know my dad was glad to see me with Vernon. Even though he was so ill when we got married he still wanted to walk me up the aisle. I’m glad he got to see us settled.”
Additionally, 12 months following her father’s passing, Tess secured her position as Strictly co-presenter alongside the late Bruce Forsyth. She explained: “The show that turned things round for me was Strictly Come Dancing, but no one had any idea how torn up I was when I did that very first show.
“Yes, I made sure I looked the part and laughed and did everything I had to do, but I was completely broken up on the inside.”
Opening up about her link to Strictly, Tess shared: “My dad loved ballroom dancing. He got me into it when I was a kid. It was his sort of thing old-fashioned, graceful. He just loved it. Everything about it would have appealed to my dad. He’d particularly liked to have seen me in the clothes I wear on the show.”
Tess also opened up about her father during a chat with MailOnline. She confessed: “[My dad] never got to meet my children – which is my biggest regret, he would’ve loved them. But he never got to see me do Strictly either, and he would have been so proud.
“When you lose someone, the way you think about everything changes forever. You know it can all go in a second, so it makes you want to protect what you have.”
Strictly Come Dancing airs every weekend on BBC One.
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