Dani Dyer has opened up about how her relationship with footballer fiance Jarrod Bowen started and developed painfully slowly – despite the two of them being next-door neighbours and fancying each other.

The Love Island star, 28, said despite thinking there was chemistry between them, she never thought the England striker would be interested in a serious long-term relationship.

When they met, Danihad recently given birth to her son Santiago – although she was no longer with his dad Sammy Kimmence.

Former Love Island winner Dani said even when she started inviting Jarrod round for dinners at her home, she would be desperate to kick him out by 10pm while he was chatting because she knew Santi would wake her up early. 

Although things heated up over time, she said she still kept dropping hints to the West Ham start that he might not want to be with a single mum – until eventually her mother Joanne Mas and former EastEnders actor dad Danny told her she was risking losing him.

Dani also told how she was worried how Jarrod’s family would feel, only to later find out his mum had liked her so much on 2018’s Love Island she had voted for Dani and her past partner Jack Fincham on the show – and told Jarrod he should try hooking up with her despite them never having met.

Dani Dyer has opened up about how her relationship with footballer fiance Jarrod Bowen started and developed painfully slowly – despite the two of them being next-door neighbours

The Love Island star, 28, said despite thinking there was chemistry between them, she never thought the England striker would be interested in a serious long-term relationship

Influencer Dani had Santiago in January 2021 and soon after she moved into a house next door to Jarrod. 

Dani said: ‘Jarrod was my neighbour. I moved into the house I was in with Santi and he was only a few months old.

‘People were like ‘Jarrod Bowen lives next door’, but I didn’t follow football at the time, just wasn’t interested in football,

‘He knocked on my door a couple of times because my parcels went there.

‘The first time I opened the door, slicked back hair, and I didn’t know this is Jarrod Bowen. And he was H๏τ. Blue eyes, blonde hair. I was like ‘Oh, thanks’.

‘A few times I’d see him. I used to know when he was leaving for football. I’d hear his car go and he was reversing out and I’d go ‘I’ll put the bins out’.

‘I knew once I looked ok because I had a shoot that day. I put the key in the door, and he came out, and I thought ‘I know I look good today’.

‘And he said once ‘Have you got a meter reading key?’ Very Sєxy.

When they met, Danihad recently given birth to her son Santiago – although she was no longer with his dad Sammy Kimmence 

Dani and Jarrod are now parents to twins Summer and Star 

‘But I did not think anything of it. I said ‘I don’t’. And he said ‘I’m moving house’ and I said ‘Oh, good luck with everything’. You look at yourself and you’re like ‘I’m a mum, I’m nothing else, I’m just a mum’.

‘And then he messaged me on my birthday, like ‘Happy birthday’. DMs.

‘I just went ‘Thank you’, and then we started chatting and from that day we never stopped speaking.

‘When he first messaged me I thought ‘he’s very fit, I don’t mind having a little bit of fun with you, but I’m a mum now, you’re a footballer, you can go have your Gigi Hadids. I’m happy to have a bit of fun with if that’s what you want, you’re the first guy I’ve probably had with a six-pack. 

‘I think because I was so chilled it became something more.’

Dani added: ‘I remember when we first started dating I didn’t want to date out in the world. You don’t know how it’s going to be received.

‘I’d be like ‘you can come over, but you have to come round at 7.30pm because my little boy goes to bed’.

‘He used to come over, we’d have a chat, cook a bit of dinner together, get to know one another.

‘It used to get to about half ten and I’d be like ‘Oh come on, I’m going to be up at six probably – you need to go home’.

Dani revealed how her parents warned her she was in danger of losing Jarrod (pictured with her father Danny Dyer) 

Dani revealed that Jarrod’s mother voted for her and Jack Fincham to win Love Island 

‘I used to send him home. At the beginning I was like ‘you can go home’. But after three or four dates he still hadn’t kissed me.

‘I was like ‘I’m going to have to kiss you at some point, how are we going to do this?’

‘We never really spoke about Santi, it was always a very taboo subject for me, and in the end I just said ‘Listen, I’ve got a child, I don’t really know what you’re seeing this as, I’m happy to have some fun’.

‘And he was like ‘No, that really doesn’t bother me, I’m more than happy to meet your son whenever you’re ready’.

‘For me I was like ‘Why? Why do you want that?’. In your head you’re like ‘you haven’t got a child, you’re very fit, you’re at a really high point in your career, why do you want to take on a single mum?’

‘There are men that do want to do that, but for me I just didn’t believe it for ages.’

Dani said even though Jarrod was keen and things were going well, she came close to sabotaging the relationship.

She added on the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast: ‘I was a bit like ‘No, no, you can turn right or you can go left – go left, don’t go right’. I don’t know why I kept doing that to him.

‘In the end it was getting to a point where my mum and dad were like ‘Listen Dan, you’re going to end up losing him – stop it, he wants to take on you and Santi, he’s more than happy to do that, so just appreciate that’.

‘And he was. I can’t fault him. He loves Santi like his own. He adores Santi.

‘I remember the first time he was like ‘Can I pick him up?’ ‘

But, as things became serious, Dani still stressed over how Jarrod’s family would feel.

She said: ‘I was like ‘How does his family feel – do they want him to take on someone else’s baby?’

‘Later on I found out that Jarrod’s mum used to vote for me and Jack (Fincham) to win Love Island.

‘She actually said to Jarrod ‘you should try and get with Dani’ – so she manifested us.

‘Then I remember he was like ‘can I give him a bottle?’ He was just so happy to take him on. That’s when I just kind of thought ‘this guy’s the one’.

‘It was so organic. It just happened.’

Dani and Bowen, 28, have gone on to have twin daughters Summer and Star in May 23 and they became engaged in July last year.