Busted hitmaker Matt Willis has opened up about a moment early in his relationship with wife Emma, admitting he felt he wasn’t up to the ‘standard’ his wife deserved
Matt Jackson Trendswatch Content Editor
13:46, 08 Apr 2026
Matt Willis has opened up about a struggle in his marriage with wife Emma(Image: PA)
Matt Willis has admitted he felt “hurt” as he discussed a challenge in his marriage with wife Emma. The Busted bassist wed former Big Brother star Emma in 2008, with the pair now raising three children together – Isabelle, Ace and Trixie.
Matt, 42, has been candid about his battles with alcohol and drugs, revealing he first began using cannabis when he was just 13 years old. In June 2008, he entered a rehabilitation clinic in an attempt to become sober following an ultimatum from Emma.
On his On the Mend podcast, he shared with guest Spencer Matthews that he feared he wasn’t “living up to her standards” when he initially met Emma. The Love is Blind UK host says he was subsequently “driven” to achieve sobriety after a devastating realisation.
He explained: “There shouldn’t be competition in a marriage, there shouldn’t be competition in a partnership and there isn’t competition in my marriage, don’t get me wrong, but in the beginning part of my relationship, I became very aware that I wasn’t living up to her standard.
“And I wasn’t achieving anywhere near what she was achieving and it hurt me, it did. It really affected me and I was getting sober at the time and I’d been sober for a while maybe and it drove me, it really did.
Matt and Emma married in 2008
“It made me go, ‘Do you know what, I need to step the f**k up because she is winning’. It’s not winning against us two, it’s winning at life, and I’m not winning at life. I was like, ‘I need to start winning at life and step my game up.'” Meanwhile, Matt has previously confessed he is keeping a “terrible” secret from his children. The musician reveals he frequently tells his children he believes vaping is “stupid,” but has been “secretly” partaking in the habit himself.
While he is eager to abandon the vice, Matt admits he is “massively addicted” to nicotine, having begun smoking as a teenager. This led him to seek assistance from neuroscientist TJ Power, who tried to help him quit during a previous podcast episode.
He stated he was determined to give up, throwing away his vapes and snus – pouches containing powdered tobacco – while preparing himself for what he anticipated would be “hell” over the following days. However, his determination quickly faltered when he noticed vapes backstage at a Busted concert.
Matt rose to fame with Busted(Image: WireImage)
Matt explained: “I do want to quit vaping. It sounds like excuses, but the reason is that I like it, I really like nicotine, I’m massively addicted to it, like hugely addicted to it, I have smoked since I was 13, 14, and I’ve always had nicotine in my life.
“We did this big thing, I chucked the vapes away, I chucked the snus away, I was like, ‘Right, I’m done, it’s going to be hell for a couple of days’.”
Matt then revealed that while driving to a Busted gig, another driver “cut me up in traffic”, causing him to “lose it”. Enraged by the incident, he arrived at the venue and remembered that Busted kept vapes on their rider. He discovered himself reaching for the vape and falling back into old patterns. However, this triggered a crucial moment of clarity, as he recognised that his vaping habit could put his career at serious risk.
He explained: “And so, that lasted for a couple of weeks and then about four days ago, I was in a vocal call for Cabaret and I realized I’m not going to be able to sustain this with this vaping going on. I’m just not going to be able to do it.”
The star added: “So, I don’t plan on vaping again. I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want to have that in my life. It’s embarrassing. It’s terrible for you.”
