Tom Daley has gushed about his supportive husband Dustin Lance Black and their kids Robbie and Phoenix as he prepares to compete in the 2024 Olympics.
Rewind a few years, and the diving champion – who is competing alongside Noah Williams – admitted that newly married life was "not all plain sailing."
© Joanne Davidson/ShutterstockThe couple tied the knot in May 2017, and shortly afterwards, Tom discussed the "dramatic changes" they made after transitioning from a long-distance relationship to living together as a married couple.
"Our relationship is far from perfect. We have really tough times and struggles," he began on Attitude Magazine's podcast.
"For example, we went long distance for a very, very, long time: he was in LA, I was living in London. We would spend sometimes five weeks apart.
© Instagram"And it's something that was really, really tough and we've had to make massive and dramatic changes in our lives in order to be able to live together and see each other all the time. So it's not all plain sailing," said Tom, who welcomed son Robbie via surrogacy in June 2018 and son Phoenix in March 2023.
Love story
The couple's love story began at a mutual friends' dinner in Los Angeles in 2013, and they grew close very quickly despite their 20-year age gap.
"We don’t notice the age gap. When you fall in love, you fall in love," the athlete said in a new interview with The Observer.
© Matt Baron/BEI/ShutterstockAmerican screenwriter Dustin later told Out magazine in 2016 that it was "love at first sight" – they even began discussing weddings and babies within the first week!
Tom explained to The Guardian: "It was a real love-at-first-sight thing. But then I had to come back to England so we were just talking on the phone or WhatsApp or whatever. Then he came over eight weeks later.
"The first night, I took him to meet my friends and said: ‘This is my boyfriend.’ The next night we went on our first date. The next night he asked me to be his boyfriend.
"The night after that, after a couple of lychee martinis, he told me he loved me. He extended his trip, we were already talking about babies and weddings. So that was in the first week. It was weird. But now it’s five years later."
They announced their engagement in October 2015 and tied the knot in May 2017 in a Shakespeare-themed ceremony at Bovey Castle, Devon.
In their wedding video, Dustin touched on the couple overcoming challenges. "When Tom and I met four years ago, I knew instantly that I was in trouble," he said.
"I knew I'd met my match. I'd met someone who could inspire me, someone who I could admire but also somebody who would naturally be my best friend.
"It didn't hurt that he was incredibly cute and charismatic and didn't let me get away with a thing. It just seems that he and I have been able to overcome every single challenge of distance and time apart and it just brings us closer and closer together."
Marriage confessions
© Bruce GlikasThe pair have both gushed about their blissfully happy married life. In a YouTube video, Tom said: "There's something about married life that just changes the way that you think, the way that you feel - how secure you are, just that everyday life seems a whole lot better.
"It was nice to have him home and be here and be with me while I was training. My training got better and better."
The secret to their happiness is simply good communication on a daily basis. "When we get to bed, we always ask each other what our best and worst part of the day was. It’s a good opportunity to share something nice, but then also share something that [wasn’t]," Tom told Cosmopolitan.
"It doesn’t necessarily have to mean I’m pissed off about him, it could be anything, but just being able to create that conversation."
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