You only have to pop ‘Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams’ into Google to be bombarded with photographs of a couple who look as if they’re enjoying a perfect marriage.
He, rich and handsome, she so beautiful she looks as if she has just stepped off a red carpet. So, it was hardly surprising that when they got together in 2017, they soon set up their own brand to monetise their relationship.
It has been so lucrative that the pair are now said to be worth a staggering £15.5million thanks to their joint business ventures, which included a podcast and several television shows.
But their joint podcast ‘Spencer and Vogue’ was axed in January after Vogue confided Spencer ‘didn’t enjoy it any more,’ and today the once inseparable couple are further apart than ever before – quite literally.
While Vogue is about to make her debut on I’m A Celeb tonight after jetting to Australia as a late entry contestant – along with Celebs Go Dating star Tom Read Wilson – Spencer has just arrived in Cape Town to begin his latest physical challenge: completing seven triathlons across seven continents in just 23 days.
He began his challenge, which he has called Project Se7en, on November 13, meaning he won’t complete it until December 6 – the day before I’m A Celeb ends. Whenever Vogue leaves the jungle he won’t be there to greet her at the end of the show’s famous bridge.
So it’s no surprise that his decision to take on his challenge while Vogue is on I’m A Celeb has raised eyebrows. After all, they have always come as a pair and Vogue has always been supportive of her husband’s athletic commitments.
However, I can reveal their work is no longer ‘joined up’ because Spencer, 37, recently dumped his agent at Money Management, the London firm that orchestrated his and Vogue’s career, for a glitzy rival, YMU –home to Ant and Dec, Claudia Winkleman and Davina McCall.
This ‘split’ explains why Spencer will not be on the Gold Coast cheering on his wife when she joins the likes of Kelly Brook, Alex Scott and Ruby Wax on the ITV show.
In an interview, Vogue told the Daily Mail she will ‘miss’ Spencer and her children, who will be looked after by Vogue’s mother Sandra Wilson.
‘This separation is staggering and very telling at the same time,’ says one insider. ‘They did everything together and then boom, that’s it, Spencer goes at it alone.
The brand has officially split, and while Vogue and Spencer still seem happy together, you have to wonder if behind the scenes this has caused any ructions.
‘Going into the jungle is massive for Vogue, she’s leaving her three beloved kids behind. Spencer is also going off and won’t be there to meet her at the end of the bridge. The whole thing is very strange. It certainly draws a line in the sand when it comes to their careers – they are now undeniably separate.’
Those close to the couple are surprised at recent developments, given the success of their ‘family brand’, which began on TV, in front of millions of viewers.
Spencer, whose older brother James is married to the Princess of Wales’ younger sister Pippa, and Vogue met while appearing on the Channel 4 reality show The Jump in 2017.
They married in June 2018 on the banks of a picturesque loch on the Matthews family’s 10,000-acre estate in Scotland.
Vogue and Spencer moved into a lavish home in Battersea, south-west London, and now share, Theodore, six, Gigi, four, and three-year-old Otto.
The couple went on to have two reality series on the Channel 4 spin-off network E4, one called Spencer, Vogue And Baby Too and the other Spencer, Vogue And Wedding Two.
The pair continued monetising their relationship with the collaborative podcast which ran for over four years until they abandoned it earlier this year. Now Spencer has his own podcast, Untapped, while Vogue hosts one with her sister aptly named Vogue & Amber.
Vogue is arguably a bigger star than Spencer these days, and certainly has more fans within the showbusiness world.
As well as I’m A Celeb, she’s the face of Fairy Washing Powder, has her own children’s clothing range, Gen Kids, available in Marks & Spencer and Next, and also has some lucrative endorsements including one for Shark Beauty.
Meanwhile, industry insiders have pointed out that unlike previous sporting pursuits, including the Great Desert Challenge for which Spencer ran 30 consecutive marathons in 30 days across the Jordanian desert and was made into a BBC documentary in 2024, he has failed to bag a deal to screen his latest triathlons.
‘Project Se7en is for charity, yet he has had to do it without the support of any big broadcaster,’ says my source. There could be further problems ahead for Spencer. To put it mildly, he has antagonised his former representatives at Money Management, who have, I’m told, been ‘extremely loyal’ and ‘fought many fires on his behalf’.
And it’s fair to say that at times the firm – headed by the revered Louisa Booth – has dealt with its fair share of crises when it came to Spencer.
In 2023, just weeks after Spencer attended his close friend Jamie Laing’s wedding alone, Vogue uncharacteristically didn’t publicly wish him a happy anniversary, despite having taken to Instagram for the previous four years to gush over him.
It prompted much chatter that all was not well in the Matthews-Williams household, especially after rumours began to circulate around Chelsea (where the two men made their names on the Channel 4 reality show Made In Chelsea) that Spencer had been involved in an ‘incident’ at a mansion in Sotogrande on the Spanish Andalucian coast, where Jamie married Sophie Habboo.
With Vogue 1,500 miles away looking after their three children, the ‘incident’ became the talk of the wedding, eventually leading to model Lottie Moss denying the rumour that she and Spencer had got together behind Vogue’s back.
Following the wedding, Jamie and Spencer’s once-close friendship fizzled out. Money Management had also closely guarded any rumours of partying that Spencer – who quit alcohol in 2018 – may have been involved in.
‘When you are with a manager for so long, close relationships are formed,’ says my source.
‘Spencer is a super interesting guy who has had his troubles in the past. While his former agency are nothing but professional, he did ditch them for another company which he clearly deems to be more prestigious.
‘It tells you a lot about someone, especially as he and Vogue did everything together.
‘She has been at so many finishing lines to greet him but in what is expected to be one of the biggest moments of her career, he won’t be there for her.’
