Over the last 12 months they’ve been on and off more times than a strobe light – last week they’d split and this week they were back together for a promotion – so just what exactly is going on between Sam Faiers and Joey Essex?
We caught up with Sam at London’s Park Plaza Hotel to put her relationship under the spotlight, and here’s what she had to say.
heat: Last week you’d split, today you’re back for a promotion, are you and Joey on or off?
Sam: “It’s quite frustrating because it might appear that we’re on and we’re off, but actually we had an argument and before we had even discussed it, it was out there and everyone was ‘oh my god they’ve split up, they’ve split up’. We are just a normal young couple that have their arguments and make up. But unfortunately for us it was on a bigger scale, everyone has their say and it gets dramatised. But we’re moving on from it, onwards and upwards.”
h**: That row was during a family holiday and reports say Joey flew home early….did he?**
S: “We were originally going home on that flight but my mum, Greg, Nelly and my sister [Billie] stayed an extra couple of days to chill and we went for dinner with my grandparents because they live out there. Joey obviously had to come home and he had filming for his show and I just carried on an extra couple of days to relax.”
h: What was the row about?
S: “Nothing in particular. [Sam’s agent steps in to say: ‘I think that’s a bit too much’] It wasn’t anything in particular it was just the usual.”
h**: Who called who to make up?**
S: “It was a mutual decision really, we both love each other. We are learning to just ignore it [the media] and just whatever makes us happy, that’s us, we make each other happy. Since we got back from Spain we’ve only seen each other three times so it has been difficult moving on from the argument however, today’s been really nice to work together for Doddle [parcel retailer] because we’ve never worked with each other ever [since TOWIE]. We both do our separate projects so we never really get to spend a lot of time together anyway, so it’s once a week or twice a week at the push, that’s how much we get to see each other.”
h: Is it harder for you both working on separate projects?
S: “It is difficult. We are not the only couple that go through a long distance relationship. We are so young we want to spend time together but we can’t because obviously of work, but our attitude towards it is we’re young and the opportunities are here now so we can’t miss it. But then the days we do get to spend together and the time we do see each other it’s special because obviously we haven’t seen each other for all that time but we’re always obviously on the phone, on FaceTime or on text.”
h: A couple of date nights you’ve had together, Joey has been promoting himself on Twitter/Instagram, do you find that hard?
S: “It’s like everyone’s on their phones when they are out for meals, but actually maybe we should put a rule in saying no phones at dinner time. Maybe there should be a rule of all couples when you go to dinner.”
h: What have you got coming up?
S: “There are loads of things going on which is really good and exciting that I’m setting up before Christmas and next year I will just be super busy with it all but it’s all stuff that I love, fashion, beauty and health.”
h: Is Joey’s schedule as busy as well?
S: “Yeah, every day. It’s just difficult because we live quite far apart, I think once we are both under the same roof, which will probably be at the beginning of next year now, I think it will be a lot easier for us because we will both come home back to one place.”
h: With so much going on, how are you going to make sure your relationship doesn’t strain?
S: “We both appreciate that we’ve both got busy schedules and we’re working towards our dreams and our goals and that’s the main thing and we are really supportive of everything that we do and we always try to make time for each other, but it is just difficult, it really is. I think it will settle and it will all fall in to place at some stage.”
h: If an opportunity came for you to relocate long-term what would happen to your relationship?
S: “I don’t know if we would be able to be away from each other that long. I think if it was something more long-term like 3-6months I don’t think we would cope very well. I think our management team would make sure we wouldn’t be away from each other for that long.”
**h: Are you worried that could happen…? **
S: “Yeah of course, I think if that was the case we would make sure we could commute so that we would see each other at least once or twice a month and make it work. When your young as well you’ve still got to keep that spice in your relationship so we couldn’t just be apart for 3-6 months, it just wouldn’t work definitely.”
h: You are quite homely…and Joey’s a party animal…is it hard to pin him down and have a night in?
I’m a home girl. I don’t want to be away from Nelly, always with my mum, always in Minnies. I think people might assume or say that he is [a party animal] but actually it’s where Joey’s main work is in the clubs where he does PA’s so it does appear that he’s out a lot but realistically he’s working, he’s doing photos and he’s coming home. Obviously we’re all entitled to our lads or girls holiday but in terms of when we get time together we sit in and watch films or we go out for dinner. We don’t tend to really go out together clubbing unless we are away. We just like to chill.
h: You had that bust up in Mahiki last month….
S: “Yeah that’s just a load of rubbish. We just ignore it. That day we both woke up in the morning and we were both really laughing, we both stayed in a hotel and we both woke up and you’d [nods to her PA] called us and Dave [Joey’s PA] had called Joey and you know, [Sam’s agent says: ‘it’s just a sign of being more famous that people try to stitch you up all the time’] it was just really random, we walked in to the club cuddling and kissing and we walked out the same, it’s just silly, for example, if we had two minutes where we didn’t talk all of a sudden ‘that’s it they’ve had a row’, it’s difficult because that’s not the case.”
h: Is it hard being recognised when you’re out, fans will come up and take that time away from you?
S: “It depends where we go – if we go to a swanky restaurant in town people don’t tend to bother you but if you’re out and about in Essex just shopping it can be quite difficult and sometimes you just want to enjoy a meal, the two of us. But at the same time, neither of us are rude or ignorant, we do smile and give them the time we need but sometimes it’s like ‘just give us five minutes’. Sometimes it is easier going in a big group because then people can’t really get to us.
“We don’t see fans or people wanting photos a problem because at the end of the day they are the people that have kept us going for so long, they are the people who are rooting for us in our careers so it’s swings and roundabouts.”
h: Can you see yourselves together in five years’ time?
S: “Oh yeah of course…we do have a bumpy road, we do, but it’s just that thin line, we love each other and we don’t want to be with anyone else, we see our futures together and any hiccups on the way it’s just learning curves isn’t it?”
h**: Is it hard with family getting involved?**
S: “I think our families have learnt not to now, because in the early days it would be ‘this conflict and what they done? What’s he said/ she said?’ …so not anymore.”
h: Why did you send Joey the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus book…
S: “Because I think it helps us. I read it and it is understanding women and men because we’re from completely different planets – it helps you understand how a man thinks and how you should step back sometimes and just think how they think. You know, but I don’t know if he will read it or not. Joey thinks it’s just for women.”
h: Have you said to each other ‘it would be nice if you didn’t do this’ or ‘it would be nice if you did this more’…
S: “We both know how to push each other’s buttons and rub each other up the wrong way, I think probably just a lot less of that and that when we do get time together just cherishing it and making it nice, nothing set in stone, but more like don’t wind each other up as much.”
h**: Do you both just let it all out and hear both sides and give reasoning?**
S: “No, we’re best not doing that, we’re best off just forgiving, forgetting and move on.”
Looks like they’ve got their relationship all sussed – as long as Joey isn’t offered a long-term project to work abroad, that is…
*Sam Faiers and Joey Essex opened the doors to new retailer Doddle; brand new shops in and around train stations across the country for online shoppers to collect, send and return parcels. Shops are open early until late seven days a week and people can sign up for free at www.idoddle.it/register. *