Love Island winner Liam Reardon has said he’s “giving things a shot” with ex Millie Court. The couple, who won the ITV2 dating series in 2021, split last year in July.
Speaking to the WalesOnline podcast In the Spotlight the 23-year-old, who hails from Merthyr Tydfil, confirmed that he and Millie have been “taking things slow”. He added: “We had time apart and it was needed. We needed that time apart but now we're giving things a shot.”
Rumours that the pair had rekindled their romance emerged in May and at the time Millie confirmed on her YouTube channel that she was “dating someone”. She later shared snaps of her with the mysterious ‘someone’. Listen to In the Spotlight with Liam Reardon below:
The former bricklayer, who owns a house in Essex, added: “People have seen things. They know we've met up and have seen each other and are trying things again but I just want to kind of keep it to a certain level so we can control it.” Are you happy to see the couple reunite? Let us know in the comments.
“I love Millie and I have since we first got together,” Liam said. “We've shared amazing experiences and she's been my best friend as well. Even when we weren't together we tried to stay as friendly as possible and at times that wasn’t easy.”
Liam described how following his Love Island victory things were “very difficult” for him and Millie – citing the immense public interest in their relationship as a reason for their initial split. “Having all these eyes on your relationship and all these people feeling like they are involved is difficult. We felt like we had to show we were happy. If you didn't post a photo in, like, four days, people would be like: ‘Have they broken up?’ So we felt like we had to prove we were happy and in doing that it kind of makes you unhappy.”
Speaking of that time Liam said it had a profound effect on his mental health and that he felt like he had a lack of “control” in what was happening. “I'm always someone who has been in control of my job, my feelings, and what I do and all of a sudden I came off the show and things changed. I was told to go here, go there, do this, do that, and obviously in my new relationship moved to Essex from Wales and didn't know anyone.
“I became this TV influencer and all I knew how to do was bricklaying. I remember I had to record myself and do ads and I just couldn't do it. I remember calling my mother and saying: ‘I can't do this.’ I was screaming because I'd record something and hated looking at myself. It took some time to get used to and I still find it hard now.”
Liam cited fitness and his new business venture Panda Events as ways in which he currently looks after his mental health. He called his home in Wales a “happy place” and added: “There’s loads of rivers and mountains and that's my happy place. We don't have them in Essex, unfortunately, and it's all very flat.”
He recalled how following Love Island, as he was so busy with various work opportunities, he let his fitness slide. “I was just having takeaways in the morning, noon, and evening all the time. I had this terrible routine where I wasn't training and I wasn't eating healthy and it was horrendous. I hated being like that. Being healthy does wonders for your mind.”
Liam’s business venture, Panda Events, will launch with an event at Bambu in Swansea on July 15. All proceeds from the event are set to go to Velindre Cancer Centre. “I've always enjoyed the party scene,” he said when asked why he wanted to set up Panda Events. “I went to work on Ocean Beach in 2019 and that kind of opened my eyes to it. I thought it was unbelievable. The team who set that up have done an amazing job. What I'm doing is on a much smaller scale but, still, you’ve got to dream big…”
A self-confessed fan of a night out Liam admitted that they’ve been a little different for him since winning Love Island. “I have lots of people coming up for photos and having selfies,” he said. “Sometimes you just want to have a drink and relax – it’s obviously nice and everyone’s friendly. When it gets to about 11 or 12 o'clock and you've had a few beers, start getting drunk, and then you’re tagged in photos the next day where your eyes are shut – it's not the best thing with a hangover.”
Liam then touched on how Love Island producers warned him that his life was going to change after winning the show. Despite their warning he said “being told and experiencing it is very different”. He explained: “I've been through the streets with myself and Millie or just on my own and you've got people shouting, chasing you, crowds of people coming after you and you're like: 'Wow, this is crazy.' When we first came out of the villa at that point we were one of the hottest couples in the UK because we’d won the biggest show in the UK and everybody was talking about us.”
One moment that Liam would probably rather forget was the aftermath of Casa Amor, which saw him grow closer to bombshell Lillie Haynes. When he returned to the main villa his and Millie’s relationship was on the rocks and Liam admitted he was “in the doghouse”.
“[I remember thinking that] everyone was going to hate me. I had to stay in the doghouse with Millie for like eight days and I just felt that I was going to be dumped from the villa. At the time my name was still on Millie's bed. They even scrubbed my name off on one of those days and I remember thinking: 'Why is my name gone?' At the time I said to Millie: ‘I'm so sorry but I haven't got a chance to redeem myself – I'm going home.’ But I didn't go home and we rekindled things and went on to win. It was an amazing journey.”
Liam admitted that he is watching the current series of Love Island and said he “wishes” he was there with the Islanders. Despite sharing his admiration for this year’s contestants (calling Whitney Adebayo his favourite) he added: “I'd love to do my season all over again. If they wanted to redo it we'd do it in a heartbeat just to experience it all over again.”
Love Island continues at 9pm on Sunday, July 9, on ITV2 and ITVX. Listen to more episodes of In the Spotlight here.
