Clarke Gayford first rose to fame in New Zealand as a television host, but these days, it’s his wife to-be that dominates the headlines.
But that’s not to say either party is any less worthy of our attention – Clarke certainly saw to that earlier today when he gave a radio interview that’s quite frankly left us a little glassy-eyed.
Speaking to Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa this morning, Clarke spoke of the moment he and Jacinda first met before they began dating in 2013.
Fitzy asked him: “I know this is probably a little personal but how did you guys meet? How did it all come about?”
To which Clarke gushed: “That sentence took a different turn, I thought you’re about to accuse me of punching and well, you would be right!”
After that small tangent, he explained: “We actually met, this is slightly embarrassing I had a constituency issue and I emailed my local MP and I got some really good advice”
Clarke says he’s “punching” with fiancée Jacinda.
(Getty)Clarke also explained what happened the moment he learned Jacinda, 40, had a real shot at becoming NZ’s next PM.
“Funnily enough I was in Australia when she became leader of the Labour party. It was all kicking off, it was going really badly for the Labour Party,” the 44-year-old said.
“I was in Australia filming, diving off Mooloolaba and as I was about to go down underwater I turned my phone off and like ‘I don’t want to know about this’ and when I came back up the guy on the boat said ‘yeah mate, you might want to call back home, your missus has had a promotion.'”
He concluded: “It was from that moment forward that life took a swift and sudden turn…”
The pair now share a daughter Neve, who was born in 2018.
(Instagram)Clarke and Jacinda share a two-year-old daughter together, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, who was born in 2018 while Jacinda was in office.
She became the second female Prime Minster to give birth while serving, a feat that normalised her and Clarke’s modern parenting dynamic.
Indeed Clarke became somewhat of the stay-at-home dad while Jacinda continued to run New Zealand to whirlwind success.
A success so large in fact, that in October 2020’s general election, she won in a landslide victory.
Jacinda has spoken of Clarke’s incredible parenting of their daughter, telling The Weekly: “He’s exactly as I expected him to be, completely doting, very dedicated, really patient.”
“I feel they’ve got in-jokes already, I don’t even know how that’s possible, but they do. And he of course will dress Neve, so there are a lot of ‘I heart Dad’ socks and shirts.”
So yes, in a nutshell, these two are henceforth a certified golden couple. No arguments here. Case closed.
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