Martin & Shirlie Kemp’s Relationship Was Love At First Sight

Having joined the Kemp ranks for this season of Celebrity Gogglebox, we finally got to see Shirlie Kemp comment alongside her husband Martin Kemp, and their son Roman. Fan favourites of the hit Channel 4 series, Martin and Roman often wind each other up. And now Shirlie has joined in on the action. As she gears up to become a Celebrity Gogglebox staple, you might be wondering how Shirlie and Martin met. Find out what you need to know, below.

Spandau Ballet’s Martin first laid eyes on fellow singer Shirlie (then Shirlie Holliman) as she performed with Wham! in 1983. Adorably, Martin previously told the Daily Express, “I'd seen Wham! on Top Of The Pops singing Young Guns, and I couldn't take my eyes off Shirlie... I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd seen."

The two officially met a couple of weeks later. Comically, Martin explained: “I gave her my number, but she didn't call me for three weeks”. Shirlie herself then chimed in with: “It wasn't because I didn't want to call. He was this big pop star and I was scared he would be a proper pop star. He was so good-looking."

Interestingly, this is where legend George Michael (who’d been a close friend of Shirlie’s since they went to school together) comes in. "He [George Michael] was a big Spandau fan. He called the number and gave me the phone,” said Shirlie. "Martin's mum answered… I was so embarrassed, she probably had girls phoning all the time for him.”

Five years later, in 1988, the lovebirds got hitched in St Lucia. And the next year, Shirlie gave birth to their daughter, Harley Moon. They welcomed their son Roman in 1994, choosing George Michael as his godfather. Fast forward over three decades, and today, they’ve been together for almost 35 years. In 2020, the couple published a memoir about their rise through the music industry and their relationship titled, It’s A Love Story.

And as if things couldn’t get any cuter, Martin has also admitted he was practically in love with Shirlie right from the start. “My heart jumped and missed a beat when I saw her so it was kind of fate in the end, that we got together,” the former EastEnders actor told Piers Morgan on ITV’s Life Stories. “I’d seen her wearing this white dress with a big slit up the side and I was in love with her.”

Speaking of his time undergoing treatment for brain tumours, which left him epileptic and dyslexic, he added: “It’s the corniest thing in the world to say this about someone, but [Shirlie] was a rock and she was my touchstone.”