They do say some people have a whole lot of layers to them, and Ant Middleton in case in point.
He’s intense and no-nonsense on SAS: Australia, but when he’s not pushing recruits to their absolute limits, the ruthless leader is quite the family man.
Bad news for anyone who’s hoping Ant is single and ready to mingle – the former Royal Marine is happily married to his wife Emilie Middleton.
The couple met in 2004 at the Essex bar Emilie was working in and the then 24-year-old Emilie admitted with “it was love at first sight.”
“He was so cheeky and funny, as well as good-looking and muscular, and I knew he was The One,” she told The Sun.
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Ant and Emilie tied the knot in May 2006 in Antigua and Ant admitted that his wife was the one who kept the family going when he was deployed to Afghanistan.
“I was quite selfish and put my career first for a long time, but I wanted to spend more time at home,” he admitted.
“I used not to write home much. It’s easier just to focus on what you’re doing when you’re out there.”
“I had a single-minded attitude towards what I was doing and I was quite selfish really.”
Ant has been married to his wife Emilie since 2004.
(Instagram)Ant is a dad of five – whilst he shares the youngest four with Emilie, he also has a son from a previous relationship.
Ant and Emilie’s first child together, daughter Shyla, was born in September 2007, and next came son Gabriel in March 2009.
Youngest daughter Priseis was then born in September 2015 and in October 2016, youngest son Bligh arrived.
“I embrace the challenge as a father and I’m fully committed until the last breath,” Ant penned on Instagram.
In another sweet post for Valentine’s Day, Ant shared a photo of his family captioning it: “The loves of my life that make me the man I am today! Especially my beautiful wife @emiliemiddleton03 😘 Happy Valentines my angels 💙❤️💗💙💓💙 #trulyblessed #mylife.”
“The loves of my life that make me the man I am today!”
(Instagram)But as you’d expect, Ant is far from a helicopter parent and urged his followers to let kids “make mistakes in life” and “prepare them accordingly.”
“So proud off my little earthlings! I always let out enough rope for them to trip over but obviously never enough for them to hang themselves! If we don’t allow children to make mistakes in life then they’ll never make anything!” he wrote on Instagram.
“There is no cotton wool in the real world, so be a responsible parent and prepare them accordingly! Priseïs (my three-year-old daughter) said to me ‘Daddy, I want to climb that tree’ I said ‘Go ahead’… She replied ‘but I might hurt myself’ and I simply answered ‘but you might not’ and up she went! -true story,” he added, before noting, “School starts at home.”
While Ant’s eldest is from a previous relationship, he shares his four youngest with wife, Emilie.
(Instagram)Ant also has family in Australia and whilst in Sydney promoting SAS: Australia has spent some quality time with his brother Pete and three nieces.
“My wonderful nieces don’t see their uncle as much as they should but boy did we make up some lost time! Love you guys and uncle Ants will be over with his clan very soon!” he captioned a series of photos with them.
Ant’s parents, meanwhile, are no longer alive and his father passed away when he was still a boy.
A young Ant hugs his dad surrounded by his family.
(Instagram)In August, the army man shared a throwback photo of himself as a child with his parents and siblings captioning it: “A rare picture of me hugging my father just before he left this planet and also of my mother who left not too long ago!”
“Life takes the strangest of turns sometimes and we must be versatile and flexible enough to move with it! It’s also extremely challenging, hard and holds no prisoners which in turn provides endless lessons to grow and evolve from… just the way I like it!”
This article originally appeared on our sister site, Who.
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