Brynley & Chris ‘HE BROKE MY HEART…NOW WE'RE BESTIES!'

The Celebrity Treasure Island comedy duo reveal a bond that has overcome family heartache and homelessness

- Sebastian van der Zwan

When best friends, flatmates and fellow comedians Chris Parker and Brynley Stent first met as teens at a theatre sports competition in Christchurch, it was love at first sight. Well, it was for Brynley, anyway.

“I used to have a crush on Chris,” she confesses to Woman’s Day, revealing how they went from competing against each other to spending weekends hanging out together at Riccarton Mall.

Chris continues, “Then one day Bryn texted me that she liked me, but I was in the closet, so I just said I wasn’t interested but that we could still be friends.”

“There’s your headline: He broke my heart, but now we’re besties!” jokes Brynley, 32. (Well, if you insist!) “But honestly, I was absolutely fine with it because it meant I still got to hang out with this fabulous person. In hindsight, it was just a talent crush – I’d seen him on stage and I admired his work.”

“Either that or you were sexually attracted to Puck from Midsummer Night’s Dream,” quips Chris, 31. “Exclusive: Bryn’s really into pixies!”

Since then, the pair have become intertwined in each other’s lives. “It’s beyond friendship,” tells Chris. “After being there through every step of our journeys together, it’s more like we’re related than we are friends. We’re family.” Indeed, very early on, Brynley found herself leaning on Chris when her mother was diagnosed with the blood cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “It’s a really horrible disease and even though I knew it was serious, I just wanted to get out of the house and hang out with my friends – that was my escapism,” recalls Brynley, whose mum tragically passed away when she was 18.