FROM the moment they first danced together on BBC’s Strictly, Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev have been partners ever since, with their 2019 Las Vegas wedding, followed by the birth of their two children.
Even after a decade together and managing their private lives with the demands of the public eye, it seems that the pair are still burning with passion.
The Countdown star, 38 and former Strictly pro, 44 enjoyed a rare night off from parenting duties, to attend Strictly Come Dancing’s professional dancer, Johannes Radebe’s House of Jojo show at the London Palladium.
The lovebirds were pictured kissing in the shadow of the theatre, with Rachel placing her hands on her husbands face and Pasha running his hands up and down her body.
Rachel, an Oxford-education Maths wiz, then leaned against a wall, as she changed out of her high heels into a pair of flat shoes, while Pasha looked on attentively.
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Last year, Rachel described herself and Pasha as being like “passing ships in the night,’ as they work hard to juggle their workload with looking after their two children, Maven, three and Noa, two.
Speaking to The Sun, she said: “It’s nice to have date nights, especially as we can be ships that pass in the night, especially when you have kids as well.”
And the Essex-born star underscored that even the best of relationships change over time.
She said: “When you first get together, if they’re away for three months and you’ve only been together a month, it’s a big deal, But when you’ve been together the best part of decade and you can see a future of how ever many more decades that you get together, it kind of changes your perspective.”
However, both she and Kovalev know that their current phase of parenthood is temporary and they are currently “enjoying this phase of having little ones”.
“When the kids get old and move out, you’ve still got each other and we value that and we look forward to that when we can get back to that but also we don’t feel time constrained,” she said.
Riley and Kovalev first met in 2013, when the presenter became a a competitor on the BBC's Strictly and was partnered up with Kovalev. They married in 2019 in Las Vegas.
Prior to her marriage to Kovalev, Riley was married to Jamie Gilbert, who she met while studying at Oxford University.
They married in 2012 but split up 16 months later.
