Renewing wedding vows seems to be the latest showbiz trend with Abbey and Peter Crouch, and Rochelle and Marvin Humes being just two of the loved-up couples who have recently celebrated.
Now Real Housewives Of Cheshire's Tanya Bardsley tells Closer she’d love to renew her vows with footballer husband of eight years, Phil Bardsley, but reveals that he’s put his foot down due to the dizzying cost of their first wedding.
The couple married in 2014 at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire – the same venue where Rebekah and Jamie Vardy tied the knot in 2016.
Tanya, 41, laughs, “Our first wedding cost so much that [Phil] doesn’t really want to renew our vows. God, it was a lot. And it was all spent on the fresh flowers! We had this big fresh flower arch that cost absolutely thousands, and I’ve got hay fever, so I was sneezing all the way through anyway!”
The former glamour model began dating Phil, now 37, in 2005. Since then, the couple have had sons Rocco, 12, Renz, eight, and Ralphi, five. Tanya is also mum to daughter Gabriella, 20, from a previous relationship.
Tanya quickly found herself famous in her own right after starring in RHOC in 2015, winning over fans with her brash honesty and funny remarks.
But the star recently opened up about facing mental health struggles all her life – including battling depression and being diagnosed with ADHD in 2021, aged 39.
She says, “All my life I’ve just been given antidepressants for anxiety and depression. I’ve felt alone and sad, and tried to take my own life three times. But I feel like, since the diagnosis, I’ve had a breakthrough – it’s taken me a year, but I feel good.”
Since then, Tanya – who released her documentary Me And ADHD in October – has overhauled her lifestyle to keep her physically and mentally healthy.
She shares, “After the diagnosis, I quit a lot of things. I gave up alcohol and had to go back to basics. I need structure or else I have chaos. I have to have my sleep, my vegetables, I have to meditate, and I have to exercise. I meditate every morning straight away, as soon as I wake up – even if it’s just for five minutes. Phil has been a massive support to me. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
Tanya stepped away from RHOC in 2021, following her ADHD diagnosis, but recently returned to the show on the festive spin-off RHOC: Christmas Cruising – which saw the ladies reunite during a glamorous holiday.
Tanya adds, “I enjoyed being back. I missed the girls! I’ve not decided yet if I could do full-time again [on RHOC] going forward. And my boys – one is playing football with Man City and one is at Stoke. Their schedule is manic, so it’s piecing all of my life together, but the spin-off was perfect for me. I surprised the girls and everyone was just pleased to see me, so I wasn’t involved in any of the drama!”