He’s a radio host, TV presenter and is about to go on a three-month tour with his former band, JLS. But for Marvin Humes, his favourite job is being husband to wife of 12 years Rochelle and dad to daughters Alaia, 11, and Valentina, seven, and son Blake, three.
And the 39-year-old gives Closer an insight into how he and former The Saturdays singer-turned-presenter Rochelle, 35, juggle their busy lives.
He says, “Both Roch and I have hectic work schedules, so we don’t strictly assign roles to one another. We share responsibilities like doing the school runs, cooking, bathing the kids and reading bedtime stories. Sometimes there’s only one of us on Dad or Mum duty, but that is what a true partnership is all about – teamwork in all aspects of our life.”
He adds, “We both have our moments of being strict. Roch tends to be tougher on the girls while I go easy on them. On the other hand, when it comes to Blake, I am usually tougher.”
Although his brood love being in front of the camera, he’s still not sure any of them will follow in the footsteps of their pop star parents.
He says, “All our kids love singing and dancing, but it’s nothing too serious at the minute. They sing and dance on TikTok, I am always jumping into my daughter’s TikToks, which she finds so embarrassing.”
Marvin says that the best thing about being back on tour with JLS – who reunited in 2020 after splitting in 2013 – is having the band’s kids joining them on the road.
He says, “It’s cool that they get to see their dads and uncles perform. I’ve got three children, Aston’s got three, JB’s got two and Oritse has one. There are nine kids between us, we can make two JLSs! We did an arena tour last year and we’ve got some summer shows coming up. We’re going to a lot of places that we haven’t been to for a very long time, which will be great.”
KISS FM radio host Marvin and presenter Rochelle both have busy work schedules, but he now says that no matter how hectic their lives are, they always make time for each other.
He says, “It’s so important to make time for each other as a couple. We try to go back to the days before we had kids and make sure that we have a date night – even if it’s just once per month. That’s when we invite the grandparents over or, if we can’t get a babysitter, we make sure the kids are in bed early so that we can spend some romantic quality time together.”
Luckily, the couple – who tied the knot in 2012 – have also been able to spend an ample amount of time together at work as they have hosted BBC’s music quiz The Hit List together since 2019.
“It kind of just naturally happened, it was never planned,” Marvin says of his wife becoming his colleague.
“There aren’t many husbands and wives that work together. We love hosting The Hit List. If I wasn’t hosting that show, I’d still be a fan of it. Working with Roch doesn’t feel like work. it’s just like I’m standing there with my best mate.”
The JLS summer tour kicks off on 28 June at Newmarket Racecourse, with dates running until September. Visit jlsofficial.com for full dates.