Julie (47) was just 18 when she first met Ali, the son of a Scottish folk singer, and although she had two children with a former partner, she never married until Ali made her his wife. “I always said I’d only ever marry Ali,” says the vivacious blonde, who also acts as her busy husband’s stylist and PA.
“I always knew it would be him. But things had to happen in their own time – we had stuff we had to do before we got together. If we’d married when I was 18 I reckon we’d have killed each other by now!”
“I was a philanderer,” shrugs Ali good-naturedly, grinning as Julie teases him for the “five billion or so girls he had to see first”. “There were a few girls before Julie, yeah. I think it took me a bit longer to realise we should be together. But things happen for a reason,” – he grabs Julie’s hand playfully, singing – “And the reason is us, baby!”
Julie wasn’t about to give up on Ali, though. She was so sure he was the man for her that when he did finally realise she was “the one”, she moved from her home in London to Birmingham – just metres down the road from where Ali was living with his kids and his now-ex wife.
“In retrospect it was a bit of a daft thing to do, but while I wanted Julie, I didn’t want to leave my kids, so I thought I’d move Julie to me,” says Ali. “It was typical Ali!” laughs Julie affectionately.
