Joe Swash – who is on Blankety Blank tonight (Saturday, April 13) – is married to Stacey Solomon – however, he had an eventful love life before settling down.
From dating his EastEnders co-star to having a bitter court row with his ex over his son, here’s an inside look at Joe’s romances.
View this post on Instagram
Joe Swash and Emma Sophocleous
Between 2005 and 2008, Joe and Emma were in a relationship together.
They were engaged and even had a son together. However, their split led to a court battle over custody of their son, Harry.
Joe opened up about the court row with ex Emma during an episode of the Steplife podcast last year.
“We had to go to court and stuff like that. So in hindsight it’s a great thing, but yeah, me and Hal, it’s been a strange one for Hal, he’s had to do a lot of adapting. I do feel quite sorry for Hal for what he’s had to go through,” he said.
“It’s just one of those things, his mum and I weren’t agreeing on certain things and we had to go to court. We had to do it that way,” he then continued.
“And that’s what court is there for to sort things out. And it done exactly that. It’s changed our lives,” he then added.
Dating EastEnders co-star Kara Tointon
In 2008, Joe began dating his EastEnders co-star Kara Tointon.
Joe and Kara played brother and sister on the soap, however, it wasn’t until Joe left the iconic soap that they began their romance.
“It’s going really well. She’s beautiful and we get on great,” Joe told Now magazine at the time. He also added that he was “punching” well above his weight.
However, the relationship didn’t last too long, with the former couple going their separate ways in 2010.
Joe later confessed that the breakdown of the relationship was down to him. “It was all down to me, and nothing to do with Kara,” he said.
“She genuinely does everything right. It was my fault it broke down. I didn’t know what I had until she was gone.”
He then went on to say that he begged her a “million times” for a second chance, but it was too late.
Joe was left heartbroken when Kara went on Strictly and began dating her pro dance partner, Artem Chigvintsev.
“It hurt so much when I read they might be an item. I wanted to watch Strictly to support her but I knew it was going to rip my heart out,” Joe told News of the World at the time.
To make things worse for Joe, Kara went on to win the show with Artem. She was with the Russian dancer for four years after.
Joe Swash and Stacey Solomon
Six years later, Joe began another high-profile relationship, this time with former X Factor star Stacey Solomon. The rest, as they say, is history.
The couple have since gone on to have three children together, and all live in Pickle Cottage. In 2022, they got married after being together for six years.
The couple seem to have the perfect relationship, however, Joe has confessed that they have their “ups and downs”, just like everyone else.
Speaking to The Sun in 2020, he admitted that the couple had “ups and downs” during lockdown.
“At the beginning of lockdown, it was a slight learning process about how we are going to do this,” he said.
“We had our moments, we had our ups and downs, but we found our groove and we work well as a team,” he then continued.
“We’ve got kids so we made it work. I think we’re definitely stronger on the other side of it thankfully.”
View this post on Instagram
Joe and Stacey’s marriage
Stacey and Joe have called time on having more kids for now, however, both have confessed that they could foster in the future.
“Fostering is something that me and Stacey have talked about and would love to do,” he said on a podcast last year.
“We’d love to foster, we’d love to give something back, you know? It is something that we definitely want to do, when our kids get old enough that they’re not as reliant on us.”
JOIN ED!’s ANT AND DEC NEWS CHANNEL ON WHATSAPP – IN THESE 4 SIMPLE STEPS USING THE INVITE LINK HERE
Blankety Blank airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer tonight (Saturday, April 13) at 7.10pm.
Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think of this story.