Everything We Know About Greg James & His Wife Bella Mackie
Find out everything there is to know about Britain's favourite radio DJ Greg James and his wife Bella Mackie including who proposed to who and the job role they have in common...
Anyone who's anyone knows and adores radio and TV presenter Greg James. He's been in the public eye since the late 2000s and with his new show Rise and Fall set to air on Channel 4 on Sunday 14th March, we thought it was about time we took a closer look at Greg James and wife Bella Mackie.
You know we love a relationship round-up here at Hitched, giving you all the celebrity wedding trend inspo and rounding up on the longest and shortest celebrity marriages, and we have a serious soft spot for national treasures like Greg.
Though we've listened to him on the radio for what feels like forever, what do we really know about the BBC Radio 1 star? If you're after some Greg James goss, you've come to the right place. We're about to share everything there is to know about Greg James and his wife Bella - from revealing Greg James's real name, to taking a closer look at his and Bella Mackie's wedding.
Greg James & Bella Mackie: Is Greg James Married & Who is His Wife?
From his early career and experience as an author to his relationship and wedding, here is everything you need to know about Greg James and wife Bella Mackie, including who proposed to who and how long they've been together.
- Who is Greg James?
- Is Greg James Married?
- Greg James & Bella Mackie's Wedding
- Who is Greg James' Wife Bella Mackie?
- Greg James & Bella Mackie on Mental Health
Who is Greg James?
Greg James, 37, is a British radio and television presenter who hosted his first BBC radio show the day after he graduating university in 2007 - talk about not wasting any time! However, this was not his first rodeo. In fact, Greg's first time on air was when he was just 14, presenting the hospital radio, and then at university where he was the station manager of the students' union channel.
Though his professional name is known nationwide, what is Greg James's real name? He was born Gregory James Alan Milward, and uses his first two names in a professional capacity. Not as farfetched as you may have imagined, but there's no denying that Greg James has a slightly better showbiz ring to it than Gregory Milward.
As well as hosting several prime-time shows on BBC Radio 1, Greg James has also presented a number of television programmes and coverage of huge events such as Glastonbury Festival, BBC's Children in Need, The Invictus Games and highlights from the London 2012 Olympics.
He has also co-written the children's book series Kid Normal and produced and acted in a number of shows.
But despite the copious amounts of career highlights, we all know the real question on each of his fan's lips is, how tall is Greg James? Famed for his height, Greg James is 1.93m tall, standing at an impressive 6 feet and 4 inches. Being 6ft4, he's often recognised for his height, but he's not the tallest Greg in the biz. Greg Davies is a full 10cm taller than him, standing at whopping 6ft8. Sorry, James.
Is Greg James Married?
Yes, Greg James is married to wife Bella Mackie. On 1st June 2018, Greg announced his engagement to his then-girlfriend Bella on Instagram, but their engagement story was not as straightforward as fans initially thought.
Explaining that Bella had in fact proposed to him, and the special moment had happened months prior, Greg penned, "Oh while we’re doing announcements, here’s something else...I’m having the time of my life and enjoying my work more than ever. I feel really content and it’s nice to have my shit together before I undertake a huge new work challenge.
"One of the main reasons for this happiness is because I met this person. This is Bella and in February she asked me to marry her. I said yes immediately because she is the smartest, funniest and most beautiful person I’ve ever met. The only problem is she loves staying up into the early hours drinking as much as I do and this is not conducive with 5am alarms. That said, it’s been quite a year."
Greg James & Bella Mackie's Wedding
The couple tied the knot later that year in September 2018, though the exact date is not known. Sharing his joy once again, Greg shared pictures of their intimate ceremony to Instagram and wrote, "Bella and I got married and it was the most incredible day of my life. I think it was up there for her too. She is the best thing ever and I feel like I might actually burst with happiness."
Bella Mackie's wedding dress was something else - she wore a stunning yellow gown and paired it with a silver headpiece. We love the bold statement and if you do too, check out our roundup of more celebrity brides who didn't wear white on their wedding day.
The wedding was small and intimate, but there was, of course, a DJ there giving the full Ibiza wedding vibes to everyone in attendance. Though he was presenting BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show at the time, he was given the Monday off after the wedding. Well-needed, we imagine.
Who is Greg James's Wife Bella Mackie?
Bella Mackie, 39, is a journalist and author, which isn't surprising seeing as her dad is Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian. Despite their similar interest in writing, Bella decided to drop 'Rusbridger' in favour of 'Mackie' so industry people wouldn't make the connection.
Though she's always kept her private life just that, private, she did write a brilliant column in Vogue about being happily single at the age of 30. The Vogue article was published in March 2017, but the universe had other ideas for her, and, within a year of writing that piece, she had proposed to her now-husband Greg.
Bella Mackie's husband is a pretty big deal, but so is she! She's written three books, Jog ON: How Running Saved My Life, Jog on Journal: A Practical Guide to Getting Up and Running, and a fiction book, called How to Kill Your Family. Each of the Bella Mackie non-fiction books touch on her relationship with mental health, and anxiety, something that both she and James have been very open about.
Greg James & Bella Mackie on Mental Health
As outlined in her books, Bella Mackie's mental health is something she has dealt with for a long time. Things took a real turn for the worst when her first marriage ended, but she has since found peace in exercise and met the love of her life.
In an interview with You Magazine in 2019, Bella said, "I had spent a lifetime not dealing with my mental health problems - predominantly anxiety, depression and OCD - and getting married only exacerbated them. It’s hard to ask someone else to love you, to know you, to look after you, when you can’t do any of those things for yourself."
Speaking about meeting Greg, she added, "For a long time, I didn’t think I’d get married again. I had come to prize my hard-won independence and didn’t want to regress or rely too heavily on another person to make me ‘normal’. My mental health always has to be my priority – perhaps that sounds selfish, but it means I’m then able to look after others as well.
"And I found out it was easy to be in this relationship and look after my mental health, too. I began to view marriage differently. I saw it as a wonderful shared companionship for two people who are secure in themselves and can stand on their own two feet – so much so that I proposed over dinner one night back in February. We got married in September. I ran on the morning of our wedding, just to keep a promise to myself never to let it slide.
"My biggest achievement is not marriage or love, it’s tackling my mental health problems and continuing the commitment I made to keep on top of them. I still go jogging six or seven times a week – Greg understands how important this mental and physical space is to me. He runs, too, and we’ll happily meet for breakfast when we’re both finished. That’s my kind of marriage."
Greg James has also spoken openly about his wife's mental health struggles and shed some light on how he strives to support Bella. Speaking to The i, he said, "I want to offer solidarity to anyone who lives with, or loves a person who suffers with mental health problems. Each person is of course different. The hope of this piece is to get you to start a dialogue with your favourite sad ghost and work out some strategies together.
"But please remember to make some time for yourself, you’re not supposed to be anyone’s therapist. It’s also important to be prepared for there to be no solution sometimes. Life isn’t like that. Embrace that. Our relationship is multi-faceted and that’s how it should be – I wouldn’t change anything about it. Or Bella. It shouldn’t be brilliant all the time, crucially, it shouldn’t be awful all the time. But it should be full of love."
These two certainly know how to properly support one another, and we have no doubt they'll be celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries for years to come. for more celebrity roundups, check out our edit on Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo's wedding plans, as well as everything you need to know about Vicky Pattison and her fiance Ercan.
