I’m A Celebrity star Martin Kemp has opened up to his jungle campmates and shared an insight into his marriage with fellow musician Shirlie and how she became pregnant
21:42, 23 Nov 2025
Martin shared an insight into his marriage(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Martin Kemp told his I’m A Celeb campmates the unusual way his wife fell pregnant. The singer and actor has been married to WHAM! singer, Shirlie Kemp, for almost four decades.
The golden couple were set up by Shirlie’s bandmate, George Michael, in 1983, and they’ve been together ever since. But prior to this, Martin had previously fallen in love with Shirlie before they’d even met. He once said that he saw her performing Young Guns on Top Of The Pops, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Shirlie.
Several years after their first meeting, they went on to marry in 1988 on the island of St Lucia – but the pair later discovered that they didn’t have the correct legal paperwork.
Martin left his campmates in fits of laughter(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
During Sunday night’s episode of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Martin opened up about their marriage after Vogue Williams said she’d been married to Spencer Matthews for eight years. “I got married in St Lucia on a clifftop overlooking the Caribbean” with just three people,” Martin told the camp.
He went on to joke: “If you looked into it more, you’d find we’re not married.” Sharing an insight into how he and Shirlie have been married for almost four decades, he explained: “Shirlie is everything for me, everything I do in my life, I do it for her.”
But he also said that before they tied the knot, while Shirlie was trying to get pregnant, she faced difficulties due to endometriosis. “Then, on the night we got married – kaboom,” he said.
Martin and Shirlie have been married for almost four decades(Image: WireImage)Shirlie fell pregnant on the night of their wedding(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
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Emmerdale icon, Lisa Riley replied: “Meant to be!” But Martin went on to reveal the advice he and Shirlie received from her parents one day, with Shirlie’s mum asking: “Now, have you tried the wheelbarrow? It’s a position, imagine youre lifting someone up, hands on the floor.”
While the camp was in fits of laughter, Ruby Wax OBE demonstrated the position, leaving everyone in stitches. Shirlie previously revealed that she was too nervous to phone Martin after he left his number for her.
She said: “I thought he might be out of my league. I left his number in my pocket for ages. George was like, ‘I just don’t understand why you’re not calling him’,” she explained. “I told him it was intimidating to call him. I mean, he was – he is – just so gorgeous. It was George who called Martin in the end. We were in his bedroom, and he picked up the phone, dialled the number and just gave me the phone. I was in at the deep end by then.”
Martin said: “I really don’t think Shirlie would have called me if he hadn’t done that. We owe him everything. And he went on to be a massive part of our lives. He wasn’t George Michael the superstar, he was one of our best mates.”
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! airs daily at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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