Bear Grylls, the survival expert and TV favourite, has been married to his wife Shara since 2000, but their romance nearly broke under the weight of a double family tragedy. The couple, who met in 1998, have three children and have weathered devastating losses together.
How Bear and Shara Met
Bear and Shara met in 1998, just before Bear became, at the time, the youngest Brit to climb Mount Everest. Their meeting was sparked by an embarrassing skinny-dipping incident on the north coast of Scotland. Bear recalled: "It was freezing on the north coast of Scotland, and a wave came and took my clothes. I was running around naked, trying to find my trousers." He added: "She saw this ridiculous sight, probably felt sorry for me – this weird man running around – [and] she came to help me."
Shara later remembered seeing Bear on the front page of newspapers after his Everest climb, thinking: "Oh my gosh, that's so weird! This is the guy I just started going out with and he's on the front [page], the youngest Brit to climb Mount Everest."
The Engagement and Wedding
The couple got engaged just a few months after meeting, with Bear proposing on the sand after another skinny-dipping moment. He recalled: "She was standing there going, 'What are you doing?'. She was wrapped in a towel and a massive Atlantic roller [wave] came and I went 'Will you...?'" They married in 2000 and went on to have three children: Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry.
A Double Family Tragedy
Just months after their wedding, the couple faced a devastating double loss. Shara's father passed away a couple of months after the wedding, and Bear's dad Sir Michael Grylls died three months later. Michael died suddenly from a heart attack while recovering at home two days after having surgery to fit a pacemaker.
Bear told The Times in 2019: "I didn't really have a job – and that was a worry – and then her father died. Twelve weeks later my father died. We were living on this rusty barge on the Thames and the boiler was broken. I felt overwhelmed. I couldn't talk to Shara because I felt I had to be strong for her." He added: "For a young couple, a shared crisis can really make or break you. It certainly made us."
Shara's Career and Their Survival Secrets
Shara is an author and philanthropist, having written two books on marriage: Marriage Matters (2006) and Never Stop Holding Hands (2012). Earlier this year, she revealed how they have weathered tough times through constant "communication." She told Woman Alive: "We spend a lot of time apart. In the early days it was much harder—satellite phones, very little contact. But now we talk all the time. We make decisions on the phone or on WhatsApp."
When asked about advice for newlyweds, Shara said: "It's not all a picnic. You have to work at it. You have to be kind. You have to be patient. Don't be afraid to lean on each other."
