* YOU BEEN SNAP * Can any woman really trust her husband 100 per cent? Louise and Jamie Redknapp have been besotted for 15 years but she says she’ll always worry "

*BY FLORA LYIMO DESIGNER*
Louise Redknapp doesn’t take anything for granted: not her career, nor her fabulous home and certainly not her gorgeous husband. ‘I worry that the minute I get too comfortable, life’s going to bite me on the bum,’ she says.
And she means it. Louise has been married to former England footballer Jamie Redknapp for 13 years. They have two sons, Charley, six, and Beau, two, and are so blissfully happy that... well, let’s just say they have about as much need for a super-injunction as a WAG has for a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Louise continues to fret though. ‘I trust Jamie as much as you can trust anyone,’ she says. ‘I trust him with my life. He’s the father of my kids and I love him, but can you ever trust anyone 100 per cent?

Happy families: Louise has been married to former England footballer Jamie Redknapp for 13 years, they have two sons, Charley, six, and Beau, two

‘I read those interviews in which someone says, “I trust my husband completely. He’d never do anything to hurt me. Blah, blah, blah...” And, I always think, “You never know how things might change in 20 years, ten years, two years.”

‘I’ve lived this life with him for 15 years now. I know it’s nuts, but I feel that if I take it for granted, that’s when it could all be taken away from me. Even now when I drive into my house, I still think, “I can’t believe I live here.” And I touch wood.’
Louise is a tiny slip of a thing with a sweet face and an even sweeter nature. A builder’s daughter from Lewisham, south London, she hasn’t really stopped touching wood since hitting the big time with the allgirl group Eternal in the mid-90s and subsequently as a solo artist.
Now, at 36, she works as a TV presenter, a judge on BBC1’s So You Think You Can Dance and has just taken her first foray into the world of acting alongside Ray Winstone in the British film The Hot Potato. She should be cock-a-hoop, but... ‘People can look at my life with rose-tinted glasses,’ she says.

Popping the question: Jamie proposed to Louise a year after their first date when he was in hospital with a broken ankle

‘Don’t get me wrong, 95 per cent of it is wonderful, but there have been little snippets that haven’t been quite as wonderful. ‘My dad’s been really ill with bowel cancer, which was tough because it affected my whole family a lot. I know there are lots of people who go through this and I’ve not suffered any more than anyone else, but it was a tough time.’
Louise fiddles with the sleeve of her white leather jacket as she says this. She is grateful for her wonderful life and doesn’t want to whinge. But she isn’t smug either. ‘When, in an interview, journalists ask, “What do you love about yourself?” I can’t answer that question,’ she says. ‘I don’t love anything about myself. When I walk into a shop and try a dress on, I’ll say, “Do I look fat in this?” It’s my husband’s pet hate. He’s like, “Lou, you look fine.”
‘I’m sure it was those years with Eternal. It’s so important in your teenage years to be able to make mistakes and do all the things you’re not meant to do. But we lived in this little box and were moved from pillar to post by our management.
'I was in a girl band with three very religious girls. When we were on tour, the moment work finished they went to their hotel room and that’s where they stayed until we got up the next day. It was very lonely. They had each other, but I had nobody.
‘I was touring the world selling millions of records, but hating it. Eventually I did walk away – enough was enough – but it took me five years.’

Hard times: Louise describes her time in pop group Eternal as 'very lonely'

Louise wanted to leave Eternal shortly before they were due to tour with Take That in Europe, but was persuaded to go on the 1995 tour. Which was probably just as well, as she met Jamie in Milan.
‘Robbie Williams said, “You must meet my mate.” I thought he was just a young player who was asking me for my number,’ says Louise. ‘I don’t jump into things. When I was with Eternal we were told what to say, what to do, what to think.

‘It took me a while to learn to have my own opinions. Jamie and I knew each other for about three years before we went on a date. When I met Jamie he was a young, good-looking footballer. Was he ready for a serious relationship? I doubt it. I thought I’d be better being his mate at that stage, and it worked. 
‘But I got to that stage where, if he was going on holiday, I’d be a bit, “I don’t want you to go away.” Or, if I had a date, he’d be, “Oh, who with?” You just felt that slight bit of possession. That’s when I knew. So we went out on a proper date on our own.I remember taking about three hours deciding what to wear, trying on about 25 outfits.’

Jamie proposed a year later when he was in hospital with a broken ankle. ‘I stayed in hospital with him every night,’ says Louise. ‘That’s what cemented us.’
They married the following year, 1998, on a whim during a holiday in Bermuda. ‘We were never going to have a big wedding,’ she says. ‘I was getting dressed up within an inch of my life most days at that stage. I had people doing my hair and make-up every day. It was the least of my worries to look like a princess for the day. I just wanted it to be about the people we wanted there and me and him.’

Career driven: Louise with fellow judges on BBC's So You Think You Can Dance

Louise and Jamie invited their family and friends and were married on a boat with just 20 guests. Louise had never given a thought to the idea she might not have children of her own. When she hadn’t become pregnant two years into their marriage she thought nature would eventually take its course, until Jamie persuaded her to see a doctor.

Tests revealed she had endometriosis, a womb disorder that can cause infertility. ‘To be honest I was a bit nervous about having a baby because I was very career driven,’ she says. ‘I’m more ambitious than anyone would give me credit for. When Jamie talked me into seeing this doctor, I thought, “I’ll just do it to show him I’m willing. I know everything will be fine.”
‘When the doctor said to me, “You might never be able to have children,” it was like somebody had punched me in the face. I remember standing outside the hospital thinking, “What do I say to my husband who’s desperate for children?” To find the
words... they were the toughest words to ever have to tell someone that you love so much.’
After two sessions of laser surgery, six months apart, in a private London hospital, the endometriosis was cleared up sufficiently for Louise to conceive naturally. She discovered she was pregnant the day her beloved grandfather, Charley, died from a stroke.

My career makes me tick. It makes me the mum I am. It makes me the wife I am. Jamie loves it.

‘I know it sounds so stupid, but I think he made way for me to have a baby,’ she says. ‘I think he thought, “It’s Lou’s turn now.”
‘He’d always come to my rescue. When I lost my stage school scholarship because my parents moved out of the borough, Granddad helped with the fees. He had a market stall and gave me what he had.’
Four years after Charley was born, Beau arrived. But just four weeks later, Louise’s father was diagnosed with cancer. ‘He went through lots of chemotherapy and radiology, and, please God, he’s all right at the moment. As a family we got through it. My family is my real rock – it’s my career that goes up and down.’
So why keep pushing ahead? It’s not as if the Redknapps are short of a bob. ‘Having worked from when I was a young girl, I need to work. I need that in my life, even if it’s on a small scale. I need that independence,’ she says.
‘My career makes me tick. It makes me the mum I am. It makes me the wife I am. Jamie loves it. He came to the first show of So You Think You Can Dance and he loves being proud of me.’
She smiles a sort of I-feel-like-I’m-theluckiest- girl-in-the-world smile, and says ‘As a little girl or a teenager, if somebody had said I’d lead the life I’ve led, I would have said, “No, not me.” I’m really grateful for where I am but, like I said, I try not to take any of it for granted.’