‘Everyone Has A Shelf Life'

No bullsh*t. No pretensions. No PR spin. Emma Willis gives you her totally unvarnished rule book for life

- Lottie Lumsden

Emma Willis is tucking into a sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce. “This is my breakfast,” she tells me. We are in a buzzy Soho restaurant – the sort of place where art crams the walls and the staff are as insouciantly chic as the clientele. The hum of transactional conversation surrounds us as business deals are sealed over grilled lobster and fries. No one bats an eyelid as Willis takes a seat, and you get the impression this is exactly as she likes it. 

“Hey, let’s order some chips, too,” she smiles, conspiratorially looking around. “I’m starving.” 

This is the seventh time I have met Willis. In that time, I have met her mother and her father. I have joined the family for dinner (yes, the rockstar husband was present, noodling away on his guitar); taken a shower in her bathroom and laid down on the floor beside her in her garage, as we both supplicated ourselves to her personal trainer. I tell you this not to boast, but rather to give you an idea of what we’re dealing with when it comes to Emma Willis: a completely open book. There is never any loitering publicist, neither are there any pauses while she grasps for the PR-approved answer to my questions. No, Emma Willis is the real deal. 

I know this because as soon as we sit down and I bring up the topic of her ginormous career renaissance (in 2017 she cleared another series of The Voice, one more series of Big Brother and two of Celebrity Big Brother, started working with UNICEF and launched a collaboration with Next), she rolls her eyes. 

“Oh, you know me, Lottie,” she says. “I always think that this is as good as it gets; that I’ve probably reached my peak and got nowhere left to go. My one good year is over…” She covers her face with her hands, adding, “And I didn’t take it all in!”