Matt Willis has revealed he feared his wife Emma would leave him after she issued an ultimatum before their wedding in 2008. The Busted star, 43, opened up about his recovery journey on the Joe Marler Will See You Now podcast, admitting that his motivation for getting clean has "changed over time".
Ultimatum before the wedding
Emma and Matt, who have been together since 2004, tied the knot in 2008 and share three children - Isabelle, 17, Ace, 14 and Trixie, 10. But shortly before their wedding, Emma told Matt "she wouldn't marry him if I kept on like this".
Matt, who has suffered well-documented issues with drug and alcohol addiction at the height of his music fame, admitted that he went to rehab for Emma because he thought she was going to leave him.
Recovery and realisation
Matt conceded that, although Emma might have been his early driver in his recovery, he eventually realised "I didn't want to be that guy". He said: "I try to do it for her. The time before the last time I went to rehab, I went to rehab for her. Because I thought she was going to leave me."
He added: "And even the very last time I went to rehab, she told me she wouldn't marry me if I kept on like this."
Motivation changed over time
Matt last entered rehab 17 years ago and has been consistently clean since 2016. He was offered cocaine at a party after Busted got back together and quickly spiralled, but Emma refused to leave him and their relationship has gone from strength to strength.
Matt told the podcast: "So there was a little bit of her in my decision-making to go, but I think ultimately, I wanted to, I didn't want to be that guy anymore. And that's really what changed. Every time I tried to do it for someone else, every time I tried to save something, it never worked because I was still in the equation. And I was ignoring that part."
He added: "I was trying to look good for them, or do something for someone else. Then it was like, 'I can't do this anymore to me.' Not because I cared about me, but I couldn't bear doing this every day. I wanted to change for me."
Matt believes getting sober has made him a better husband, father and work colleague, and says he never wants to "go back to being that guy". Emma appears on Strictly on Saturday, October 17 from 6.15pm to 8.35pm on BBC One.
