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Australia’s beloved landscape and interior design couple, Charlie Albone and Juliet Love, have nurtured a relationship together for over 15 years.
If you’re a Better Homes & Gardens fan who has watched their chemistry play out on screen through thoughtful design decisions, you might assume it was love at first screen test. As it happens, the couple did not exactly leave their first meeting swooning.
The loved-up couple joined Tiffany Dunk on the couch of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast to share their love story from prickly beginnings to full-bloom love.
In their own words, “Life is not always going to be hydrangeas.”
Thorny beginnings
In 2009, Charlie Albone and Juliet Love were both scouted for a lifestyle show that would later become The Party Garden. Knowing little about each other, beyond a Google search, the pair first met at Rushcutters Bay Park to trial their on-screen chemistry.
“So we did the screen test, and that went really well, didn’t it?” Charlie jokes on the Love Stories podcast, holding back laughter. He admits that he probably self-sabotaged their first meeting after seeing a photo of Juliet and believing her to be out of his league.
Charlie shares on the podcast that on the day of the screen test, he showed up hungover. That left Juliet less than impressed with his one-worded answers and a stiffness that he puts down to nerves.
“I remember thinking he was so rude,” says Juliet. “He wasn’t even trying to make an effort.”
Despite an awkward screen test, the show went ahead. Once the pair got into the rhythm of things, Charlie was able to relax into doing what he does best: gardening.
That’s when Juliet says she started to see “the real Charlie.”
Early seedlings
“I thought it was a first date before Juliet thought it was a first date,” Charlie tells Love Stories podcast host Tiffany Dunk.
As a former presenter on Selling Houses, Charlie was invited to the ASTRA Awards. With no partner at the time, he asked if he could bring his new co-host, Juliet, along.
“I thought, ‘great, that’s a date.'”
Ever the professional, Juliet interpreted her invitation as a work outing. Only realising it for what it was when Charlie put his arm around her.
Worried about how it would look to have an on-set romance going on, Juliet was hesitant to take up Charlie’s offer of a “proper date.” However, he was quite persistent, and the Interior designer smilingly admits she’s “really glad now that he was.”
A love in full bloom
Following their first date, things moved along quickly. The pair were engaged within nine months of their first meeting in April 2009, and married just six months later.
What followed was an easy first pregnancy, a couple of years later, with their first son, Leo. Then life started to get a bit more challenging.
While their second son Hartford was a “dream baby” according to Juliet, she has shared on her social media that she felt unusually “depleted and exhausted” beyond the responsibilities of being a mum.
After a health scare late into her pregnancy with Hartford, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after several medical tests.
“It came out of nowhere, but quite life-changing, Type 1″, shares Juliet. “It’s a full-time job managing it.”
The interior designer has been open about her diabetes diagnosis with her sons. “The boys are amazing,” Juliet shared in an Instagram post. “They know it’s all just part of our everyday life now.”
Due to the nature of Charlie’s TV work, often away on shoot for Selling Houses, the couple had to navigate long-distance earlier on in their relationship. Leading busy lives apart from each other is likely to put strain on a relationship, especially with young kids involved. However, Charlie and Juliet have made it work for them.
“Our values as far as love and marriage go are very similar,” says Charlie. Those values are rooted in support, respect and communication.
“It’s tough,” says Julia on spending time apart, but “it’s very important as well, it gives you perspective, and then it is so nice when you come back together.”
While Charlie is away for work less often these days, Juliet has embraced life as a boy mum.
Hear their complete love story on The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. The couple reflect on how they continue to keep their garden alive all these years later.
Sign up to Charlie Albone and Juliet Love’s newsletter The Living Edit for simple tips and tricks to elevate your home. Catch them on Better Homes & Gardens on Channel 7 and 7plus.
The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast is brought to you by Vixin Beauty.
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