Inside Matt Willis' family life with wife Emma - BBQs, superhero training and films

My weekend by Matt Willis

Most of the jobs I do rely on an audience, so the past year and a half has been terrifying to say the least.

I’ve spent a lot of time at home, being a stay-at-home dad and enjoying very chilled-out weekends. But things are busier now – I’m about to tour the country in Waitress, which means I will only have Sundays with Emma and the kids. Leaving my family is always the hardest part of what I do.

On an ideal weekend, when I’m not working, we’ll let the kids stay up until 10pm on Friday night and we’ll watch a movie together with popcorn.

Emma and Matt have been married since 2008 (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

I’m a big film buff and the kids are getting to an age where we can put something on and all get something from it. In lockdown, we watched the Marvel movies from the beginning, in chronological order.

My little one, Trixie, wants to be a superhero and she’s in “superhero training” every day. She’s got a callus on her hand from hanging off her gymnastics bar!

I start the day on Saturday with a workout.

In the week I’ll work out between 5.30am and 7am, before taking the kids to school, but at the weekend I start slightly later. I’m doing a triathlon training programme, so I’ll do a run or a bike ride and gym work.

Matt Willis has revealed how he discusses his addiction past with his children (Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Prince of Egypt)

We used to have a gym in the garage, but we’ve knocked that down and we’re building an extension, which will house a new one, so at the moment I’m nipping to our local gym.

When I’m done, Emma and the kids will be awake and I’ll make breakfast. In the afternoon we’ll drop Isabelle and Ace at their drama classes, so we spend a huge chunk of the day driving. Later we’ll all go for a walk.

Dinner on Saturday night is usually an Indian takeaway as we love a curry in our house, and then we’ll watch another movie together.

We round the weekend off with a relaxed family day on Sunday.

Matt Willis reunites with Busted bandmates for first time in two years (Instagram)

It’s very much a day of rest, spent pottering around the house. We’ll cook a roast or I’ll do a barbecue.

We’ll try to get to bed by 11pm.

It’s going to be a busy time now, but I’m glad life is returning a little more to normal. When the work is here, I grab it with both hands.

* Matt Willis plays Dr Pomatter in Waitress The Musical, touring the UK and Ireland from 4 September. See waitressthemusical.co.uk