Former TOWIE star Mark Wright seemed to be enjoying life to the full on holiday as he filmed himself dancing on a luxury yacht in Dubai last week with his wife Michelle Keegan and a group of their close friends.
But behind the smiles, a source reveals how Mark, 36, has been struggling with balancing their seven-year marriage and their careers after opening up about a tragedy, which saw him try to save a man’s life while on holiday with Michelle, 35, in Tenerife.
Breaking down in tears on ITV1’s This Morning he revealed how he’d administered CPR to the man, who was staying at the same hotel as the TV stars. Sadly, despite Mark’s efforts, he died in hospital. The man’s daughter later reached out to Mark to thank him, saying, “I want to thank you again for your help and support, without it my mum wouldn’t have had the opportunity to say her goodbyes to Dad.”
And it’s had a lasting effect on the normally upbeat star. An insider tells Closer, “Ever since Mark opened up about the tragedy, his friends and family have been really worried about him. He’s always such a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, but trying to save someone’s life and learning that they later died has really shaken him and given him a wake-up call about how precious life is.
“He’s told Michelle that he wants to make some changes in his life and thinks they need to start prioritising their marriage and not letting big jobs get in the way of them missing out on each other – because you never know what is going to happen in the future.”
The couple are currently in the UK as they complete work on their luxury Essex mansion, but their careers have forced them to spend large amounts of time apart, with Mark living in LA for three years and Michelle spending five months in Australia for the BBC drama, Ten Pound Poms last year, as well as enjoying eight months travelling for Our Girl in 2017.
The source adds, “Mark wants to spend as much time with Michelle and his family members as possible – the whole thing has really made him want to hold his loved ones close to him. But Michelle is worried about the future, not knowing what may happen in terms of big job offers for them both.
“Michelle wants to support him and reassure him, but at the same time she’ll always feel stuck when it comes to her work/life balance.
“She is weighing things up and knows they’ll have to make some serious decisions about how they want to continue in their marriage.”
