RHEA BAILEY AND DARREN EVEREST
THE NEWLY ENGAGED ACTRESS AND HER OVERTONES STAR FIANCE ON LIFE MILESTONES AND EXPECTING THEIR FIRST CHILD
Four years ago, when Darren Everest and Rhea Bailey started dating, they had a longdistance relationship; Rhea was starring in Coronation Street and living in Leeds, while The Overtones singer Darren was based in Kent. But now, they’ve made up for lost time. In the space of just a few months, the besotted couple have got engaged, bought a house together and, as they exclusively reveal to hello! magazine, are expecting their first child together, with Rhea due to give birth in September.
“We know we’re very lucky,” Darren tells us as he and his girlfriend of four years pose for these exclusive photos. “With the new house, the engagement and the baby, we feel very blessed.”
As Rhea shows off her baby bump and cuddles up to the couple’s adored rescue dog Binkie, it’s clear that the parents-to-be – who met at a birthday party thrown for Rhea’s former Coronation Street co-star Kym Marsh – couldn’t be happier.
“The past year has taught us not to take things for granted,” Darren says. “It’s been really special to have a lot more time together.”
Darren, 40, and Rhea, 37 – the younger sister of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae – always knew they “really wanted” to be parents. After trying for a baby for a while, Rhea realised in early January she had suddenly developed an aversion to alcohol. She took a pregnancy test in the bathroom while Darren was asleep. “She walked in and said: ‘ Good morning,’ and showed me the test, but it took a while to sink in,” Darren recalls. “Then we started looking at when the baby could be due and we got another test that day just to be sure. We phoned our parents that night and their reaction was amazing.”
DELIVERING THE NEWS
The couple initially chose to share their news only with those close to them. “We have got a very big extended family and I was still telling people my news at five months. I didn’t want to tell the public until I told all my friends and family all over the world.” Fortunately, she has only suffered what felt like seasickness for a few weeks during the first trimester. “I haven’t been ill but the whole thing does feel like a complete body takeover,” Rhea laughs. “I wasn’t expecting that at all. Other than that I’ve been really lucky.” The couple plan to have the baby at home, having been inspired by Rhea’s sister Corinne.
“My sister had two really successful home
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births with an independent midwife, and she had really beautiful experiences,” says Rhea, who played Caz Hammond on Coronation Street and also starred in The Bill. “I wanted to have a similar experience and statistically it’s actually safer to have your baby at home. It can reduce the amount of time you’re in labour as well, plus Darren gets to be with me the whole time. Corinne has been encouraging me and we’re using the same independent midwife team. Our kids will be close in age so we are excited about that; it will be nice to have cousin playmates.”
‘I had a feeling straight away that I had met someone incredibly special’
INSTANT CONNECTION
Darren felt an instant attraction when he first met Rhea. “I saw this beautiful girl that took my eye,” he says. “We got chatting and what struck me was her personality – apart from being beautiful, she was like this huge ball of energy. She was like no one I have ever met before.”
After swapping numbers they started to date “gently” for the next year, taking time to get to know each other, before Darren asked Rhea to officially be his girlfriend during a romantic holiday in Rome. “I had been living in Los Angeles for six years before I was on Coronation Street, so for the majority of The Overtones career I was away and I didn’t know who the boys were,” Rhea laughs. “He didn’t know who I was either, as he doesn’t watch Coronation Street.”
Both knew they had met The One almost immediately. “I had a feeling straight away that I had met someone incredibly special,” Darren says. “The more time we spent together, the more we both felt like this was for the long term.”
Rhea agrees: “Aside from being so handsome, something about Darren just made me feel settled inside and I thought: ‘This is a person I want to spend forever with.’ He just felt like a really natural fit and it just felt right and so easy. He really makes me laugh as well.”
Darren had intended to propose last year in Lake Como, but Covid-19 put paid to his plans. Still unable to travel but desperate to propose, he instead popped the question in March, on the day they
got the keys to their new house in Leeds.
“We can all get this idea of perfection when you want it to be at sunset, on a lake etc,” Darren says. “But the perfect moment was just us being in our new house with our fur baby at the start of a new journey.”
Rhea had no idea he was planning to propose and was taken aback when he got down on one knee and presented her with a stunning diamond engagement ring designed by Kristin Coffin. “Darren had put this beautiful big red bow around the house,” she recalls. “He gave me a massive bouquet of flowers and he had had two champagne flutes engraved with our names and the date. We opened the champagne and he started talking about our relationship and then he started quivering. I was wondering why and then he got down on one knee. I just burst into tears – we were both completely overcome with emotion.”
‘Something about Darren made me think: “This is a person I want to spend forever with”’
CELEBRATION TIME
The new arrival is not the only cause for celebration this year as Darren’s band The Overtones are looking forward to their tenth anniversary. They’re marking the milestone with a new album, 10, out on 30 July, and live dates later in the year.
Having already performed for the Queen at her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, could they be seeing Her Majesty again for her Platinum Jubilee next year? “We haven’t had any conversations about it, but we would love to. Performing for the Queen was an amazing experience.”
Rhea, meanwhile, is concentrating on writing projects for an ITV show and a film with an American production company that she plans to fit around the new arrival. And they cannot wait to introduce the baby to their beloved pet pooch. “Having Binkie changed us from a couple into a family and seeing Darren with her has reassured me, he is going to be such a great dad.”