When the Purple Wiggle Lachlan Gillespie fell in love with his co-star, Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins, their love story fast became one of the nation’s most treasured fairy tales.
The pair kept their covert romance under wraps before going public with their secret relationship in 2015.
Two months after revealing they were together, children and parents around the world rejoiced when Emma and Lachy announced they were engaged in May 2015.
Lachy popped the question with a breathtaking ruby red sparkler by the picturesque setting of Sydney Harbour.
In April 2016, the children’s entertainers tied the knot in a stunning ceremony at Hopewood House in Bowral, NSW in front of 200 friends and family.
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But just two years after that joyous day, it was all over.
In August 2018, Emma and Lachy shocked fans by announcing their separation.
“We have chosen a different path to travel in our personal lives, but please know that we are stronger than ever,” they said in a joint statement.
And while having to keep showing up to work every day with your ex-husband could spell disaster, the stars have managed to defy the odds and remain the best of friends.
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Just this week, when Emma announced her engagement to fellow Wiggles bandmate Oliver Brian her ex-husband was one of the first people to offer his love and well wishes.
“Love you guys,” Lachy said with a slew of purple love heart emojis.
Meanwhile when the Purple Wiggle went public with his engagement to Wiggles dancer Dana Stephensen last April, Emma also showed her support by commenting on the post with three hearts.
These two really are the epitome of friendly exes!
While their marriage may be no more, we could all learn a thing or two from Emma and Lachy’s civil approach to consciously uncoupling. Keep scrolling as we take a look back at their road to romance and beyond
Just two-months after going public with their secret relationship, Lachlan Gillespie and Emma Watkins announced their engagement in November 2015.
A tweet penned by the hugely popular children’s band confirmed the happy news, explaining at the time: “Excited to share the happy news – Emma and Lachy are engaged! Big Wiggly congratulations from everyone at Team Wiggles.”
A loved-up Emma and Lachy pose on the set of The Wiggles with the Yellow Wiggles’ ruby red engagement ring taking centre stage.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Confidential about the romantic proposal, the couple revealed it took place by Sydney Harbour with Lachy reading a sweet poem before getting down on one knee.
But it didn’t all go to plan! “We thought we had picked a quiet location… I was quite emotional, I was crying as I read the poem and just as I got down on one knee a lady walked past with her little baby…she let out a massive gasp,” Lachy explained at the time.
They dated for two years and then in April 2016, families around the world rejoiced when the pair tied the knot in a stunning ceremony at Hopewood House in Bowral, NSW.
The musical stars, pictured with their bandmates, said “I do” in front of 200 close friends and family. Emma looked radiant in an elegant ivory vintage-meets contemporary gown by Australian designer Suzanne Harward. The Wiggles beauty completed the look with a diamond headpiece by milliner Viktoria Novak.
Speaking of his breathtaking bride, Lachy said at the time: “Seeing Emma was the most magical moment of my life. Everything else just seemed to melt away.”
While Emma, the first female Wiggle of the supergroup, summed up the day with these touching words: “Lachy. Love. Laughter. The best day of my life.”
The husband and wife made sure their big day paid homage to their musical routes – their wedding rings had Emma’s trademark Wiggles’ bow engraved on them and each were set with nine rubies, to mark their wedding date. Their wedding cake was also adorned with her famous Yellow bow.
For a while, the happy couple seemed to be relishing in their wedded bliss.
For their adoring fans, the pair continued to perform almost non-stop after their wedding with beaming smiles, but behind the scenes it had become increasingly strained as Emma battled daily pain with chronic illness endometriosis and Lachy struggled to “keep the romance alive,” Woman’s Day reported shortly after their shock split announcement in 2018.
The singer was said to be heartbroken when his wife asked for a trial separation, telling friends she was finding it hard to relate to Lachy as a husband and had started to see him as “more like a brother.”
Addressing their decision to separate, Emma told Australian Story in 2018 that after she underwent surgery for acute endometriosis, the pair naturally drifted apart.
“We started to spend more time with our families, and that started to become quite a priority for us. I think there was a realisation that romantically it just wasn’t going the way that our friendship was going. It was a mutual decision and we wanted to wait until the end of the year and then try and work out a way to make a statement to our fans,” the Yellow Wiggle confessed.
But despite the media scrutiny, Emma and Lachlan still have a lot of love for each other.
“Emma and I from the very get-go have had such a beautiful connection and I think it’s not a fluke that she’s the most popular, at all. She does everything with so much love and it’s awesome,” the Purple Wiggle told Australian Story of his ex-wife.
“This has been one of the strangest years and it has been tumultuous but the truth is that Lachy and I love each other and we’ll be in each other’s lives for the rest of our life. And so I think that makes us feel quite calm,” Emma added.
In August 2018, just two years after tying the knot, the beloved couple confirmed their sad split via a joint statement.
“We have, and continue to share, the most beautiful life together, but we wanted to let you know that privately for the last six months we have been navigating through a trial separation, and we have made the decision to separate as a couple,” the stars explained in statement shared on their respective Instagram pages, alongside this photo, read at the time.
“Throughout that period, we have performed hundreds of shows together and that is always a continued source of joy for us both.”
“We have embraced this as a very positive change in our relationship. Our incredible friendship has been strengthened throughout this time and what we have discovered is that, more than ever, first and foremost we love and adore performing as Emma and Lachy in The Wiggles and having the privilege of celebrating this happiness with extraordinary families around the world.”
“We have chosen a different path to travel in our personal lives, but please know that we are stronger than ever and we can’t wait to see you at a show soon. We will not be commenting beyond this, and we thank you in advance for respecting our privacy,” they concluded.
True to their word, Emma and Lachy have remained the closest of friends and each other’s biggest cheerleaders.
Lachy has since moved on with Wiggles dancer Dana Stephensen. The pair are engaged and are the proud parents to twin daughters, six-month-old Lulu and Lottie.
And when Emma announced her engagement to Wiggles bandmember Oliver Brian this week, Lachy was one of the first people to congratulate the happy couple.
