Grainne Seoige has opened up about finding love again after divorce admitting she dated her now husband Leon Jordaan ‘on the downlow’ when they first met.
The Galway born broadcaster was 38 when she met South African native Leon, a couple of years after the end of her previous marriage.
The well known TV presenter has recalled how she fell in love with his cooking skills early on in the relationship as she insisted on keeping date nights behind closed doors in the beginning.
Read More: Grainne Seoige hints at return to 'first love' TV after Dancing with the Stars axe
She said: "Leon cooked for us on our first date at home in his house. He said he wanted to bring me for dinner but I said no because as sure as eggs there would have been a picture in the paper and we barely knew each other.
"We dated on the downlow for many months before we went public.
"Mothers of Ireland teach your sons to cook because it’s so impressive,” she went on, speaking to RSVP Magazine.
“When you see him braaing or BBQing, it is his happy place and he has such passion for it. It’s part of his love language.”
Grainne and Leon announced their engagement in 2014 and went on to tie the knot in a winter wedding in 2019
Looking back, the well known personality who recently took part in RTE’s Dancing with the Stars, said she had no doubts she would find love again after her previous relationship ended.
"I remember thinking 'I’m nice and I’m single so why wouldn’t I meet someone who is also nice and single'.
"That is part of being open to it, you need to feel worthy of it.
"I didn’t know when or how it was going to happen, but I felt that I would.
"I wasn’t actively looking for someone when I met Leon and it wasn’t a driving force. Life is long, I was 38 when I met him."
The couple moved to Leon’s native South Africa in 2016 and remained there until 2020.
They have since moved back to Ireland, and Grainne, 48, said: "Every relationship needs to have compromise. I am lucky that Leon is great at blending in wherever he is.
"However much he stands out physically, he is great at rowing in. He came over here as a rugby coach so he knows Ireland really well.
"I throw myself into the culture over there and he has done the same here."
And as she grows older and wiser, the presenter turned businesswoman, who runs her own jewellery company, Grace Diamonds, said she has no worries about getting old, and instead revealed how lucky she feels to be able to do so amongst her family and friends.
“Having gone through the two years we’ve had, I feel lucky to be alive,” she said.
“I read this wonderful quote from David Bowie the other day, “Ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.” Isn’t that fab?
“It’s a privilege to be around because people don’t make it. Being young doesn’t mean you can’t get sick or die. Young people die all the time.
“Being around to see my brother and his son and my sister and her kids as the eldest child in the family, that’s what makes you happy in life.
“The Seoiges have always been close but the older you get the more you realise they are going to be the people in your life. Your family is your family. I feel really lucky to be getting older and being healthy doing it.”
The star also revealed her ambitions to get back on screens with her sister Sile some day soon, as she reflected on their glory days on their hit show, Seoige.
“I would have loved if Seoige continued on because Síle and I loved presenting it together. We had so much fun. That’s television though, everything finishes.
“It was rating really well too,” she added, admitting it was hard to see it end.
“My emotional attachment was one thing but it was also doing great with the viewers. So that felt like a counterintuitive move to pull something that was working well. It was an experience for something to end that was going well, and there was such a warm feeling towards the show. I had a great experience working with my
sister as well.
“People still say that it was very powerful to have two people who are related working together. Maybe we will do it again.
“We had Richard Madeley, of Richard and Judy fame, in with his son. He said on air and he also told us off air that it was a very powerful dynamic. It was two people who love each other and know each other inside out, but also aren’t afraid to disagree.
“It was precious and you won’t get that with any other partnership.”
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