IN my 20 years as a journalist I’ve been asked about Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa more than any other celebrity couple.
It feels like everywhere I go people want to know ‘Is it fake?’ ‘Are they legit?’ ‘What are they like?’… Well, let me tell you.
Kelly Allen interviewed Chris Hughes for his first ever Fabulous Magazine cover[/caption]
Chris and JoJo are the real deal, says Kelly[/caption]
The couple met on Celebrity Big Brother in April and fell head over heels for one another[/caption]
JoJo opened up about the criticism they’ve received from trolls as a couple[/caption]
I can say unequivocally that they are 100 per cent the real deal.
Two weeks ago I got to see them together in person as we met Chris, 32, for his first ever Fabulous Magazine cover. It’s also the first time he’s really opened up about his feelings for the 23-year-old Nesbraska born star, who rose to fame as an 11-year-old on Dance Moms and is worth £15million.
I’ve known Chris since 2017 when he came out of Love Island and over the years I’ve hung out with him at events with various partners including Olivia Atwood, who he met while in the villa as well as Jesy Nelson, when he accompanied her to the National TV Awards in 2020 and I’ve never seen him this smitten before.
Organising photoshoots with celebrities’ busy schedules is always a struggle but with Chris we weren’t just trying to fit it in around his work which included attending Royal Ascot in his role as racing commentator and Coral Ambassador but also balancing his transatlantic dating schedule.
He’s frequently hopping on planes now to the States to see his girlfriend.
And when JoJo is in the UK, he understandably wants to spend every minute with her – so when I saw online the day before we were due to shoot she had jetted in without telling Chris I was filled with dread that they would call it off [she very sweetly asked the paps who got her arriving off her flight at Heathrow to hold onto the pictures for a couple of hours so to not ruin the surprise.]
Thankfully he was way too professional to cancel so there was much excitement in the office when his team asked ‘would it be ok for him to bring JoJo along with him?’
It’s been the most whirlwind couple of months for the pair, who met on Celebrity Big Brother in April.
The last time I saw Chris was at Cheltenham Races in March and we talked candidly about him going into the house and what he should expect.
I warned him it was very different to the Love Island villa and that he needed to keep his cool as it’s designed to be a pressure cooker.
Neither of us would have expected that he would go in there and fall for JoJo – who he calls Joelle and she refers to him as “My sweet Christopher”.
He told me: “Everything that happened on CBB, and everything that has happened since. . . I know it’s such a clichéd thing to say, but I would never have believed it in a million years.”
And he’s not the only one but when I arrived at the studio in East London I witnessed first hand how in love the pair of them are.
They were sitting on the floor facing each other with their legs interlocked, holding hands chatting. Both jumped up when they saw me and Chris proudly introduced me to his girlfriend.
The first thing that struck me about JoJo is how pretty she is in real life. She was dressed casually in long baggy denim shorts with a £465 Off White black knitted jumper with her hair half up half down.
Her skin is absolutely flawless and she beamed her whiter than white smile at me. She had such a warm friendly energy that I was instantly drawn to her.
The interview was scheduled at the start of the day and we went to a nearby coffee shop without JoJo jokingly telling her: “We can’t talk about you if you are there.”
‘Magical feeling’
Chris was incredibly candid during the hour long chat about falling in love and his hopes for their future together.
Describing meeting her as “a magical feeling”, he frequently mentioned destiny and the universe bringing them together.
He told me: “I’ve never been fixated on the universe but there are so many weird signs that the universe has given me in the last two months.
“I genuinely believe that everything that has happened was meant to happen.
“We keep using that word serendipity and that’s what this is. Life handed me a blessing in my lap without it ever crossing my mind.
“Something truly beautiful while I was focusing on something so unrelated.
“I can never hate the universe if it decides to give me a few bad breaks in the future, I’ll say ‘okay fair enough’ because once upon a time, it gave me her. That happiness is enough for my lifetime.”
I think of myself as quite a tough journalist – I can count on my hand how many times I’ve cried during an interview and I had tears in my eyes as he told me how he feared he would never find anyone who would love him and he worried that there was something wrong with him.
I couldn’t help but smile as he gushed about how happy he was now that they were together.
He showed me countless videos of them together – some of them both in tears as they said emotional goodbyes at the airport.
I’ve never been fixated on the universe but there are so many weird signs that the universe has given me in the last two months
Chris Hughes
I had no doubt that this lad was head over heels.
And the feelings from the dancer were clearly mutual.
Following the interview JoJo joked at how “wild” British journalists are adding “They just ask whatever they want. They will just say ‘Are you gonna get married?’
I laughed: “Oh I asked Chris that.”
She was intrigued though and wanted to know his answer. She also showed me a picture of a sentimental gift she had bought him – I’ll not ruin the surprise by sharing what it was.
I’ve had a difficult time over the past few years – again it’s not something I really talk about in a professional environment.
But I felt so comfortable with JoJo that I shared what my life away from work had been like.
As I got emotional, she hugged me. She spoke to me with such compassion, kindness not to mention maturity that I could understand why Chris (and his entire group of family and friends) have fallen in love with her.
American star JoJo has plans to spend more time in the UK[/caption]
JoJo rose to fame as an 11-year-old on Dance Moms and is worth £15million[/caption]
She was honest too about their struggles and the criticism they’ve received from trolls about their relationship.
I shared with her that while in college in the States I had similarly fallen for one of my friends and how there are some weird hurdles to overcome in the change of dynamic as well as what it’s like to have to deal with everyone having an opinion on your love life.
We talked about how much she liked being in the UK and her plans to spend more time here.
She’s obsessed with drinking tea and despite being a multi millionaire happily tucked into a lunch of Pret sandwiches and salads as well snacking on sweets including Love Hearts and Drumsticks.
She lamented that she wasn’t able to stay long enough to get to go to Wimbledon but revealed that Chris was taking her to the British Summer Time Festival at Hyde Park in London to see Olivia Rodrigo to celebrate their one month anniversary.
The shoot had a rugged theme with Chris posing topless and JoJo was a total cheerleader going “Babe, you look so hot!” as she snapped on her phone pictures and videos behind the scenes.
She admitted: “He will definitely want to look back on these later.”
In between each outfit change they cuddled and kissed and it was clear they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
We can just lie with each other and be in each other’s company. That to us when it feels like there is no one else in the world except us is pure happiness
Chris Hughes
Later she expressed concern that he was going to actually shave his beard off when he posed with a razor for one of the shots.
We also had him hanging off some thick chains covered in oil, in order to get his ‘pump’ on he dropped to the floor and started doing press ups.
It was really impressive.
JoJo and I both locked eyes with each other and she quipped proudly: “That’s my boyfriend.”
While we got the last of the photographs, JoJo made TikToks in the corner of the studio. One she later posted was captioned: “lil fit check while I was being a professional girlfriend on set for the day.”
And a total professional she was.
She posed for photos with the team – even doing a birthday message for the photographer’s daughter’s birthday before it was time to go.
While most celebrities are usually rushing off to an event or red carpet Chris shrugged at the suggestion saying they were just going home.
He had told me earlier: “A lot of my happiness comes from sitting on my sofa. I don’t go out much. I’m not really a partier. I don’t drink. I like watching TV with a cup of TV.
“And thank god that’s so reciprocated from her side. So we can just lie with each other and be in each other’s company.
“That to us when it feels like there is no one else in the world except us is pure happiness.”
And so it was time to leave with a taxi arriving to whip Chris and JoJo back to his home in Windsor and back to their own version of happiness.
The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other on set of the Fab Mag shoot, above a picture they posted online[/caption]
