I’ve been with Alex for eight years but we have never lived together ... we make it work for the ones we love
Mix star Perrie on romance
LITTLE Mix star Perrie Edwards opens up about her long-distance relationship, saying: “We make it work for the ones we love.”
The British singer is engaged to former Liverpool footballer Alex Oxlade-chamberlain, who now plays in Turkey, 2,500 miles from their Cheshire home.
But, she explains, the couple have had separate houses for much of their eight-year relationship. And Perrie, 30, says former England midfielder Alex, 30, built a studio for her in their home so she could juggle raising their son Axel, two, with recording her solo material. She says: “When he was playing for Liverpool and based in Manchester, it was so easy to do the back and forth but Turkey is a little bit further and he doesn’t get a lot of time off.
“I’m trying to launch a solo career whilst having a two year old so it is a lot to juggle but we make it work for the ones we love, don’t we?
“We’ve never lived together – the eight years we’ve been in a relationship, we’ve never actually lived together.”
Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder – Perrie says she and Alex never row. “We’re very laid back and very chilled,” she says on tomorrow night’s Jonathan Ross Show: “But at the same time, I can be a little bit of a petty b***h.
“I’m very stubborn, I’m very emotional but not in the best way.
“I will hold a grudge for anything he might say. I just can’t help the way I am.”
In a separate interview for Rollacoaster magazine’s Spring/summer issue, Perrie reveals she has penned love songs about both Alex and Axel.
Referring to him building a studio for her, she says: “When he mentioned that he was doing that for me, I was like, ‘Where did I find you?!’
“He knew I wanted to be a mum, but he also knew my passion and loves are music and singing. So he just said, ‘Let’s connect the two.’ I feel lucky.”
Perrie, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, has worked with Ed Sheeran and Raye on her new album, featuring single Forget About Us, which is out today.
She has also written tracks about her anxiety, after she was praised for opening up about an 18 -month battle with panic attacks that were so severe she felt she was experiencing a heart attack.
“It’s so therapeutic to pour your heart out about a situation in your life – and it becomes a song,” she adds.
And on an end to the hiatus for Little Mix, who won The X Factor in 2011, she says: “I’d definitely never say never.”
■ The Jonathan Ross Show airs tomorrow at 10.05pm on ITV1.