Lisa Riley revealed that she was ‘very happily settled’ as she spoke about her beloved fiancé Al during her stint in the I’m A Celebrity jungle this week – but has said they will never marry.
The pair are incredibly private about their relationship, with the Emmerdale star choosing to keep him away from the spotlight for many years – until they were spotted together for the first time in public in 2019.
Lisa has been with her partner Al since 2014, with the couple becoming engaged in 2018, and although she might be engaged to her ‘soulmate’ she couldn’t help but reveal her secret crush on ‘juicy’ show host Ant McPartlin this week.
In the X-rated confession, she told the Bush Telegraph: ‘I’m a red blooded 49-year-old woman and yes I do think Ant McPartlin is very juicy.
‘You can go to Chanel, you don’t have to buy anything you can look, I am very, very happily settled relationship lady with my Al, but I can still have a look.’
As Lisa revealed her secret crush on Ant this week, who is the man who keeps her grounded?
Lisa Riley revealed that she was ‘very happily settled’ as she spoke about her beloved fiancé Al during her stint in the I’m A Celebrity Jungle this week (pictured together in May 2024)
The pair are incredibly private about their relationship, with the Emmerdale star choosing to keep him away from the spotlight until they were spotted together for the first time in 2019
Lisa met the ‘very talented and very, very lovely’ musician Al through friends in 2014.
It is believed that he popped the question in May 2018, with the actress declaring him ‘the love of her life’ as she revealed the happy news on Twitter the following Monday.
She flashed the new silver engagement ring in a selfie and wrote: ‘Yes I can now confirm the rumours are true…’
‘I have got engaged… my soul mate and best mate and love of my life.
‘Al is the best thing to have ever happened to me…. we have absolutely NO date set for ANY wedding day, just happy together… zero fuss, just firmed our togetherness.’
Despite initially keeping things private, she has since revealed the devastating reason why she will never marry Al after being engaged for over a decade.
The actress explained that she already feels married and couldn’t cope with such a huge event without the couple’s parents, in an interview with The Mirror.
The soap star explained her other half ‘has no parents’ and so they would not like to do the day without those they love the most.
Lisa met the ‘very talented and very, very lovely’ musician Al through friends in 2014
It is believed that he popped the question in May 2018, with the actress declaring him ‘the love of her life’ as she revealed the happy news on Twitter the following Monday morning
Prior to their engagement, Lisa revealed that the couple had been trying IVF with hopes of starting a family but they ‘moved on’ after seven months of unsuccessful attempts
She told the publication: ‘We’re already married, but not married and honestly, I truly couldn’t cope with the big day without my mum by my side. Why would I want to put myself through that?
‘Al lost his mum not long ago, and he’s got no parents. Thank God I’ve got Dad. But you know, we’re not kids – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We’re 11 years together in June.
Lisa lost her mother Cath to cancer in 2012 and back in August 2022, Lisa revealed she won’t be marrying Al because both their mothers have tragically passed away.
She told The Mirror at the time: ‘We’ve lost both our mums. And when it comes to things like weddings, you do it for the other people.’
‘I’m never going to change my name, so really, what would be different?’
Lisa also admitted she went back to work ‘too quickly’ after tragically losing her fiancé Al’s mother to cancer.
The actress said she wanted to carry on after the loss but later realised that she shouldn’t have returned to filming the ITV soap opera before the funeral.
She said that losing Al’s mother, who she affectionately calls Nana, brought back difficult memories of her own mother Cathy’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2012.
Lisa told The Mirror: ‘It has been a treacherous time and it’s still very raw in the family. In hindsight, when Nana passed I shouldn’t have gone back to work so quickly.
‘But what I wanted to do was carry on regardless, and I had to really dig deep to shoot the scenes, I now realise it was the wrong thing to do before the funeral.’
She described Al’s mother as like a ‘second mother’ to her and said they were incredibly close.
Speaking of the loss, she later added in an interview with Woman’s Weekly magazine: ‘Tragedy does pull people together. I am so glad we’ve got each other.’
Prior to their engagement, Lisa revealed that the couple had been trying IVF with hopes of starting a family.
Lisa has largely kept her relationship with Al out of the spotlight, except from the odd Instagram photos of their holiday’s and rare comments
After dropping from a size 30 to slimmer than a size 18, Lisa told The Mail On Sunday’s YOU magazine: ‘When I went in to have surgery to remove the loose flesh after I lost all my weight, the first thing that came into my head when I saw my surgeon was, “Can I still have kids after all the surgery?”
‘I was worried that because my skin had been cut it would no longer stretch.’
‘I want to have IVF but I’m not going to put myself through a lot of stress if it doesn’t work.
‘There are a lot of reasons why I want to have a baby: some to do with the fact I’ve saved myself by losing weight, but also that I’m in love for the first time in my life and he would like to have a baby if we can.’
‘I don’t just think about myself any more. If we were to have a child, that would be wonderful.’
Nevertheless, she later added on Loose Women that she and Al were ‘moving on’ after seven months of unsuccessful attempts.
She explained: ‘I went through it all and my other half was unbelievable. My readings were rubbish. I’ve tried it for seven months but it’s not for me.
‘I am a woman with a fantastic partner and it’s OK to not have a child.
‘All my girlfriends have got families, and I am godmother to some of them. You think, “Am I fulfilled? Have I done everything?” But I have a lovely life and I am blessed with that.’
Prior to meeting her soulmate Al, Lisa spoke about the experience of her ‘fake relationship’ with her best friend Darren, who she later found out was gay.
He attended premieres and parties with her at the start of her Emmerdale career, she recalled in her autobiography in 2013.
‘I began thinking that I needed a proper boyfriend,’ she wrote. ‘Not this fake relationship that we had innocently developed. I realised the casual sex thing had to stop because he was my friend, not my boyfriend.’
After they broke up, she dated a man who was to be sentenced to three and a half years in jail for fraud, shortly afterwards.
This week, she made an X-rated confession after revealing her secret crush on ‘juicy’ I’m A Celeb show host Ant
The Emmerdale actress insisted that while his co-presenter Declan Donnelly would ‘look after you’, she saucily claimed Ant would ‘give you a nice night’ but she was ‘happily settled’
Unlucky in love, she went on to date a married man who was more than 10 years her senior in 2002.
The affair was exposed when his wife sold her story to a magazine, ending in yet more heartache for Lisa.
Lisa has largely kept her relationship with Al out of the spotlight, except from the odd Instagram photos of their holiday’s and rare comments.
This week, she made an X-rated confession after revealing her secret crush on ‘juicy’ I’m A Celeb show host Ant.
The Emmerdale actress insisted that while his co-presenter Declan Donnelly would ‘look after you’, she saucily claimed Ant would ‘give you a nice night’.
It all happened around the campfire when she was asked which of the duo was tastier by rapper Aitch, 25, to which Lisa replied: ‘Ant is way tastier, oh god Ant is juicy!’
‘Dec would look after you, Dec would tuck you in at night when I think Ant would give you…a nice night’ as her fellow campmates collapsed into giggles.
