Relationship expert John Aiken has made a name for himself as one of the nation’s leading dating gurus on the reality TV social experiment Married At First Sight.
WATCH: John Aiken shares his dating tips and tricks
After appearing on the hit show for nine seasons and helping hopeless romantics find their happily ever after, it’s fair to say the 51-year-old knows a thing or two about love.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that John has found his own love story in real life – although it didn’t come without a few hurdles.
The TV psychologist met his wife Kelly Swanson-Roe, a glamorous former news reporter, 17 years ago, after he first saw her on television in New Zealand.
“She is someone I am very grateful that I met,” John previously told 9Honey, reflecting on his and Kelly’s blossoming romance in its early days.
Kelly, who was widowed at age 30 after her husband tragically died in a canoeing accident in Switzerland, was naturally guarded when she first met John, so their courtship was a slow-burner.
But after takings things steady and frequently flying between Auckland and Wellington, John admits it became apparent that he and Kelly had serious feelings for each other.
“She had a lot of people around her that were very protective and didn’t want her to jump into anything else,” John said of Kelly, who he credits for her resilience.
Not willing to let go of their budding romance, John told the publication he took the plunge and made their relationship official.
“Rather than saying, ‘No, I need to be separate with Kelly,’ I just said, ‘I’m going to bring her past partner into the relationship and really make him a part of it all,'” he confessed.
After cementing their relationship and tying the knot in 2007, the couple then made the move Down Under, where John gained fame as one of the trio of experts on MAFS.
Taking to Instagram in January, John shared a sweet photo of the pair to mark their 15th wedding anniversary, simply captioning the snap: “Jan 21st 2007. Waiheke Island, NZ.”
When not posting loved-up selfies with wife Kelly, John also posts plenty of adorable happy snaps of the couple’s two children: son Aston, 11, and daughter Piper, seven.
And judging by the endless gushing posts on social media, it appears there’s no shortage of love in the Aiken household.
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