Channel 10
Kris Smith left the I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! jungle on March 2, but not before the model had done his fair share of emotional reveals, including describing the end of his four-year relationship with Dannii Minogue as something that “absolutely ripped my heart out.”
Now, after close to an hour in the showers — spread over two days — to clean the dirt and dust off of him, Smith, 38, chats with WHO about his love life, seeing his six-year-old son again, helping Casey lose weight and what he’s up to next.
Q: How would you describe your experience?
A: It’s the hardest thing I’ve done by an absolute mile.
Q: With all those cameras around you, did you have an idea you would get candid about your life or did it all come out organically?
A: It was all very organic. I stood up and I did an interview with Steve Price, who’s extremely good at what he does. I’ve always been very private of my life and I’ve always struggled with a lot of insecurities and confidence issues, and being in my own head for five weeks away from the outside world and away from everything that just allows me to brush that under the carpet and ignore it, I just had to deal with it, and when it came down to having a chat with him, I said, ‘You know what? I’ve done nothing in my life that I’m ashamed of, I’ve held it back for so long, I’ve been incredibly fortunate in many, many ways, and a lot of people don’t know a lot of these things about me.’ They don’t know I grew up in a housing estate with no money, they don’t know that I’ve come from nothing and that I’ve worked hard for everything that I’ve got. I was very proud of that, and I was ashamed it for a long time because I didn’t think I’d fit in, but now I’m more than OK with it.
Q: You opened up about your time with Dannii Minogue.
A: Dannii’s an incredible woman. Without her, none of this would be possible. I wouldn’t be living in Australia with an amazing son, so I’ve got nothing but great things to say about her. Unfortunately in situations and breakups, some people use children as leverage, and I’ve also been lucky she’s never, ever been like that. She’s been more than great with me in regards to seeing Ethan and she encourages it as much as she possibly can.
Q: You said on the show you were there to make your son proud. Do you know if Ethan was watching?
A: I do, yeah, he was watching because he was with my parents for a little while over in the UK. He was watching the show with them, so there’s a couple generations there with my dad and my son, which made my heart melt and the tears come to my eyes, and it still does now thinking about it. But he was definitely watching and he sent me a card on Valentine’s Day, which said, ‘Daddy’s on top of the world. I love you, Dad.’ All in his handwriting, so that was a good turning moment for me. That was more encouragement for me to stay in as long as I could.
Q: Is he as good with creepy crawlies as you are?
A: I don’t quite know that and I might test him on that when I get home, because I have no issue with picking anything up now, or eating most things, so I’m definitely going to test him on that one!
Q: You described your love life as complicated on the show. So for the record, what is the state of play between you and Maddy King?
A: It’s still very complicated but no, we’re back talking. We’re working through things. She’s a real special girl and she’s had a lot of time in my life and she means a lot to me and hopefully I mean the same to her, and how we progress from here remains to be seen but yeah, we’ve got things to talk about, but we will do that.
Q: One promise you did make on the show was to help Casey Donovan lose weight. Why did you make it and how do you think you can best help her?
A: That’s it, I’ll help Casey with absolutely anything she wants. I’ve got a few friends which I’ve helped do exactly the same thing. And I was heavy as a child, so I understand exactly what she’s going through. I recall the fears and the phobias and the horrible feelings I had inside. It just took her to open up to me and say, ‘I just want to lose some weight and get back to the weight I was when I was 14 and 15,’ and quickly I jumped at that chance and said, ‘I’ll help you any way you’d like, if it’s advice you need, if it’s encouragement you need, if it’s a walking partner or talking, anything that you need from me, if you’re honest and true about losing this weight, then I’m honest and true about giving you a hand where I possibly can.’
Q: What’s next for you now?
A: I’m going to see that beautiful little boy of mine as soon as I possibly can and I’m going to sit down with my management and hopefully you’ll see me on the TV or hear me on the radio or see me in some form because I’m definitely keen to get my teeth into something in 2017. It’s just a matter of what.
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