Matt Willis has revealed how couple’s therapy has ‘transformed’ his relationship with his wife Emma.

The Busted star, 41, has been in a relationship with the TV star, 49, for more than 20 years and they have three children together – Isabelle, 15, Ace, 13, and Trixie, eight.

They tied the knot in 2008 and are approaching their 20th wedding anniversary, but have overcome some struggles over the years, including Matt’s drug and alcohol addiction.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Matt has revealed how couple’s therapy has helped him and Emma move on from challenges in their decades-long relationship.

They started marriage counselling in 2020 yet Matt admitted Emma was originally reluctant to do it, but is now glad they did because it ‘transformed’ their marriage.

Matt explained how they turned to therapy after feeling stuck and not being able to move past ‘certain things’ in their relationship.

Matt Willis has revealed how couple’s therapy has ‘transformed’ his relationship with his wife Emma (pictured in January 2024), who tied the knot back in 2008 

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Matt has revealed how couple’s therapy has helped him and Emma (pictured in June 2024) overcome challenges in their decades-long relationship

‘I don’t think [therapy] is for everyone but I think you’d be surprised with how much you can benefit from it,’ he told MailOnline while discussing his and Emma’s new project with Disney’s Fantasy Cruise.

‘Emma was definitely not up for it when I mentioned it, but she’s really pleased we did. It’s been transformative.’

‘I think people instantly jump to the fact that you need therapy because you’re in trouble, that’s the pre-conceived notion,’ he added. ‘But we weren’t in trouble, we just had certain things that we couldn’t get past.’

The singer told how therapy helped him and Emma fully ‘understand’ one another and come to grips with the other person’s point of view.

‘We fully understand each other, that happened years ago, but honestly I think couple’s therapy helped with that, it really did,’ he went on.

‘We really got to learn how to understand each other. At the end of the day, we want the best from each other. 

‘That’s been the real turning point, actually going ”I want to really understand what you want and how to give that to you and what you want from me, and how I can do that”. But also staying true to ourselves.’

Matt praised therapists for helping couples to communicate better and revealed the one invaluable piece of advice he received from a counsellor years ago.

Matt has been busy working with wife Emma again on a Disney partnership, after they reunited on screens to host the first ever series of Love Is Blind UK on Netflix

The power couple’s latest project together has seen them set sail on Disney’s Fantasy Cruise, going head-to-head to be crowned the ultimate Disney Shipmate

‘I had a therapist back in the day, I remember walking into him and going ”I’ve been thinking” and he was like ”that’s dangerous”,’ Matt explained.

‘He went ”Matt, can I give you some advice?” and I said ”yeah” and he said ”never go inside your own head without an adult present”. That’s a good piece of advice for me! 

‘There’s something about it, having someone else being able to see what you’re both trying to communicate and helping you communicate to each other is really important.’

Matt and Emma celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary on July 5, 2018, by renewing their vows, but the rocker confessed he isn’t sure whether they will do it again at the 20-year milestone.

‘For me, it feels a bit too much doing it every 10 years, but for Emma, that will be like ”oh no, we are doing it”,’ he quipped.

Though he isn’t planning another vow renewal, Matt said they had an ‘amazing’ day and said it was a great opportunity to celebrate their loved ones as well as their own marriage.

Giving a very rare insight into the private day, Matt said they didn’t share any vows or make any promises, but simply had a fun-filled celebration, with Stephen Mulhern hosting. 

‘We had Stephen Mulhern and he just roasted me for 20 minutes straight! It was perfect,’ he shared. 

They started marriage counselling in 2020 but Matt admitted Emma was originally reluctant to do it, but is now glad they did because it ‘transformed’ their marriage (both pictured in August)

Matt and Emma celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary on July 5, 2018, by renewing their vows, but the rocker confessed he isn’t sure whether they will do it again at the 20-year milestone

‘It really wasn’t a serious affair, we had a proper funny [day]. We’re not those kind of romantic people so Stephen knew and got the ᴀssignment and he nailed it.’

Matt revealed they even encouraged their guests to wear their own wedding dresses, telling how they had around 30 brides in attendance on the special day. 

‘On the invitations we said ”if you want, we implore you to wear your wedding dresses if you want to” so we looked out and there were 30 brides,’ he said.

‘You get married and you never do that again, it stays in the wardrobe or something, you never see that again. 

‘At one point, there was a bouncy castle for the kids and we had 15 brides bouncing up and down, it was such a cool thing. 

‘Me and my mates formed a covers band and some people that I played with and musicians that I know got together to pick all of Emma’s favourite songs, so we got a setlist together and played loads of music, it was great.’

Long known for his love of music, Matt is soon set to hit the road again with his Busted bandmates and friends from McFly for the ultimate boy band tour face-off.

The iconic 2000s bands have long had a friendly rivalry and will settle their differences during their upcoming joint tour, Busted vs. McFly, which kicks off in September.

Though he isn’t planning another vow renewal, Matt said they had an ‘amazing’ day and said it was a great opportunity to celebrate their loved ones as well as their own marriage 

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Matt shared his joy about hitting the road again with his Busted bandmates James Bourne and Charlie Simpson, as well as McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd.

‘I feel really good [about the tour], it’s so exciting! That will never not be amazing that I still do it,’ he gushed.

‘I started that band when I was 16 years old in my mate’s bedroom and we wrote these songs on acoustic guitars and – I don’t understand how – but I’m still doing it, and it blows my mind. 

‘Busted is in the best place it’s ever been in its life, we are such good mates and we know what it is and we’re so grateful for it. 

‘We’re all very happy with our place in the band and we all have our parts to play and we kind of know what they are, it’s a really good vibe.

‘And I get to go on tour with my other really, really great mates McFly, who I’ve known for almost as long as I’ve known my band,’ he went on. 

‘It’s really good – all our families will be coming with us, it’s going to be such a great time, it will be amazing.’

‘But there will be a versus aspect where Busted will have to come out on top, but nobody really doubts that that’s going to happen,’ he joked.

Matt has been busy working with wife Emma again on a Disney partnership, after they reunited on screens to host the first ever series of Love Is Blind UK on Netflix.

Matt is soon set to hit the road again with his Busted bandmates James Bourne and Charlie Simpson and friends from McFly for the ultimate boy band tour face-off

Matt shared his joy about hitting the road again with McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd later this year

Speaking about hosting the reality dating show, Matt admitted he was initially nervous but gushed over working alongside his ‘best mate’ Emma and praised her talents. 

‘When we first [worked together] on season one of Love Is Blind, I was really nervous,’ he confessed. 

‘I was so pleased she was there because I hadn’t done presenting for over 10 years and last time I did it was with her, luckily but it wasn’t really something that captured me, that was [Emma’s] thing.’

‘Working with [Emma] it’s like a dream. It sounds really lame to say it but she’s my best mate in the world and I get to work with her now,’ he gushed. 

‘If anything, it’s not stressful or weird or makes anything awkward, it makes everything better. 

‘Normally, we have to be separate and go to work away from each other and now, we get to do some things together and spend more time together, it’s great.’

The power couple’s latest project together has seen them set sail on Disney’s Fantasy Cruise, going head-to-head to be crowned the ultimate Disney Shipmate.

They were set an array of fun-filled challenges by their celebrity friends Coleen Rooney, Rob Beckett, Alison Hammond, Janette Manrara and Romesh Ranganathan.

Matt is working with Emma once again with Disney after they reunited on screen to host the first ever series of Love Is Blind UK, with Matt gushing over working with his ‘best mate’

Video footage showed the couple trying their hand at tasks including pirate-themed dress-up, nabbing selfies with Disney characters and tracking down outrageous food.

Matt confessed going head-to-head with Emma brought out their compeтιтive sides as he felt determined to beat his talented wife in some of the challenges.

‘We are quite compeтιтive anyway – I say quite, we are a very compeтιтive couple in a fun kind of way,’ he shared.

‘Emma wins everything, she’s one of those people who is naturally good at everything. It’s very rare that I win so when I feel like I’ve got a chance, I take it very seriously.’

Matt said his favourite task was dressing up as a pirate as he promised to make ‘guy-liner’ trendy again, while he also gushed over working with the ‘naturally wonderful’ Alison Hammond.

‘[Me and Emma] had no kids with us for five days – which was partly the most exciting thing about the trip, just going away the two of us and having a cruise. We’d never done a cruise before, so it was a really exciting prospect,’ he added.

Of the project, Emma added in a statement: ‘From the moment we boarded, it was pure Disney magic. Every corner of the ship had something to surprise us – from incredible food to meeting our favourite characters. 

‘You feel like a kid again, in the best possible way. It was all magic, fun and adventure – and we loved every second of it.’ 

Their taster of the cruise life came ahead of the Disney Fantasy arriving in Europe for its first-ever summer season, setting sail from Southampton on July 31.