Dani Dyer Revealed How Love With Jarrod Bowen Took Its Time — And Almost Didn’t Happen

Dani Dyer and Jarrod Bowen may be engaged now, but their love story wasn’t exactly a whirlwind romance. In fact, it moved painfully slow — even though they were next-door neighbors.

The Love Island winner, 28, admitted she was drawn to Jarrod the moment she first opened her door to find him standing there. “…Slicked back hair…And he was hot. Blue eyes, blonde hair. I was like, ‘Oh, thanks.’” But at the time, dating wasn’t really on her mind.

Dani had recently become a single mum to her son Santiago after splitting from his father, Sammy Kimmence. So when she heard that a West Ham footballer lived next door, she didn’t think much of it. “…I didn’t follow football at the time, just wasn’t interested in football,” she confessed.

But fate (or misplaced mail) kept pushing them together. She found herself conveniently taking the bins out when she heard his car reversing, hoping for a casual chat. As she recalled; “I knew once I looked ok because I had a shoot that day. I put the key in the door, and he came out, and I thought ‘I know I look good today. And he said once ‘Have you got a meter reading key?’ Very sexy.”

Just when things seemed promising, Jarrod announced he was moving house. Dani assumed that was the end of it. “You look at yourself and you’re like ‘I’m a mum, I’m nothing else, I’m just a mum,’” she recounted. 

But Jarrod wasn’t done. He messaged her on her birthday, and that’s when things started to change.

At first, Dani wasn’t sure what he wanted. “When he first messaged me I thought ‘he’s very fit, I don’t mind having a little bit of fun with you, but I’m a mum now, you’re a footballer, you can go have your Gigi Hadids. I’m happy to have a bit of fun with if that’s what you want, you’re the first guy I’ve probably had with a six-pack,’” she shared. But to her surprise, their connection kept growing.

Even when she invited him over for dinner, Dani had strict rules. “You have to come round at 7.30pm because my little boy goes to bed,” she reportedly told him. They’d cook, chat, and get to know each other. But by 10:30, she was always ushering him out. “It used to get to about half ten and I’d be like ‘Oh come on, I’m going to be up at six probably – you need to go home,” she recalled.

Despite all the time they spent together, Jarrod still hadn’t kissed her after three or four dates. Dani finally had to address it: “I’m going to have to kiss you at some point, how are we going to do this?”

But even as things heated up, Dani kept second-guessing everything. She worried about how his family would react. “Do they want him to take on someone else’s baby?” she wondered.

Turns out, Jarrod’s mum was already a fan. She had voted for Dani and her ex Jack Fincham to win Love Island back in 2018 and even encouraged Jarrod to pursue her before they had ever met.

Still, Dani tried to push him away. “I was a bit like ‘No, no, you can turn right or you can go left – go left, don’t go right’. I don’t know why I kept doing that to him,” she shared, unsure why she kept testing his patience.

It got to the point where her parents, Joanne Mas and actor Danny Dyer, had to step in. “Listen Dan, you’re going to end up losing him,” they warned, adding, “stop it, he wants to take on you and Santi, he’s more than happy to do that, so just appreciate that.”

And Jarrod truly was. Dani realized he was the one when he asked, “Can I give him a bottle?” He never hesitated in stepping up. “He loves Santi like his own. He adores Santi.”

Now, their love story has come full circle. Dani and Jarrod, both 28, got engaged in July last year and welcomed twin daughters, Summer and Star, in May 2023.