Chloe Goodman has revealed how her husband Grant Hall helped her through her postnatal depression battle.
The reality star, 31, shares daughter Isla, four, and son Hudson, two, with the footballer and the couple tied the knot in a picturesque ceremony in Portugal in June.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline at her home in East Sussex, the newlywed opened up about her relationship with the Swindon Town central defender and the highs and lows they faced in their relationship.
Chloe explained: ‘The hardest point for us in our relationship was when he left QPR where he was Captain.
‘We had Isla and he got a new contract with Middlesbrough, which was a seven hour drive away. Isla was three months old and I was driving up every other week to him.’
Chloe Goodman has revealed how her husband Grant Hall helped her through her postnatal depression battle
The couple tied the knot in a picturesque ceremony in Portugal in June, with Chloe speaking exclusively to MailOnline at her home in East Sussex about their relationship
Chloe continued: ‘When you’re a new mum it’s really difficult to navigate on your own. I had postnatal depression and Grant was phenomenal, fantastic. He really, really helped me through that.
‘So that was probably the hardest time. I remember constantly stopping on the motorway.
‘I had our three dogs in the car and Isla and constantly having to pull over and breastfeed.
‘Then she got to the weaning stage and I was constantly just changing the nappies at service stations – my life felt like it was on a motorway.’
Revealing how the family settled into a new routine, Chloe shared: ‘Grant’s getting older now. So realistically, I keep thinking he might be playing until he’s 35/38.
‘His priorities have changed too. I need him to be close to the family. It’s not good for your mental health being alone and far away.
‘So after the Middlesbrough contract we had a chat and it was just after we had Hudson. Grant said he was going to do his best to try and get a club that he could be more at home for.
‘So currently he’s based from home but will stay in hotels near the training ground if he needs to. So we’re working it out. It’s working really well. We’re really happy.’
Chloe lives with Grant and their adorable children, four-year-old daughter Isla and son Hudson, two (pictured in their playroom)
Chloe revealed that the couple struggled when Grant was playing for Middlesbrough and she had to drive seven hours to see him as a new mother battling postnatal depression
For now, Chloe is focusing on life as a married woman, but she admitted that after their four-year engagement, it takes some adjusting to call Grant ‘husband.’
She confessed: ‘I keep slipping up and calling him “my fiancé, but in terms of our relationship, nothing’s changed. If anything, we’re probably more content. More chilled. Relaxed.’
Insisting she’s not worried about anything changing, she joked: ‘We’re a family and married. There’s no out. He’s locked in now!’
Despite her joke, Chloe has no concerns about Grant living up to the footballer stereotype and being caught up in a scandal.
She has seen it firsthand as the younger sister of Lauryn Goodman – who has not one, but two love children with married Manchester City star Kyle Walker.
Chloe explained: ‘Grant’s never been like that. He’s never been the drinking guy.
‘If he hadn’t bought the house next door to my dad, I’m not sure we’d have ever met. We had all the same friends but I’d never met him before because he just doesn’t go out. He keeps himself to himself.
‘He knows footballers but his friends are people from school that he’s known his whole life.’
For now, Chloe is focusing on life as a married woman, but she admitted that after their four-year engagement, it takes some adjusting to call Grant ‘husband’
Chloe went on: ‘This is his day off but he’s gone to a cryochamber for recovery and now he’s on his way to see the chiropractor so his days off are never a day off. He’s always doing something to do with football!
‘His main focus is recovery, nutrition and performance. It’s a case of prolonging his career and his fitness, making sure he’s looking after himself.
‘Alcohol and partying just does not go with that lifestyle that we have. So, no, I’ve never been worried because he’s never out.
‘It was me [out partying] in the early days but since I’ve had kids the hangovers are not worth it!’
Chloe knows not to be sucked in by stereotypes having herself been judged without reason.
‘People just assume I’m stuck up and love materialistic things,’ she mused. ‘If a footballer marries someone that’s really glam it’s, “Oh, she’s only with him for his money.”
‘If they if they marry someone they’ve been with they’ve known their whole life, it’s “he could do so much better than her.” You can’t win!
‘I do think it’s all changed now thought. Women are a bit more independent. They want to have their own careers.
‘They want to have their own thing going on and their own identity aside from their partners. Before, it was always “who are you dating?” that was your status.
‘Now in our generation, both parents work. I think I’d have been stupid if I ever didn’t work.’
As well as working, Chloe has enrolled on a three-year course for adult nursing and is hoping to use qualify as an advanced nurse practitioner to offer more services at her aesthetics clinic
As well as working, Chloe has enrolled on a three-year course for adult nursing and is hoping to use qualify as an advanced nurse practitioner to offer more services at her aesthetics clinic, Opiah.
Yet this comes with its own set of challenges, and she confessed: ‘I was a little bit embarrassed about going back to school. Everyone’s 20-odd, fresh out of college.
‘But then I thought the only embarrassing thing is not doing what you want to do in life and letting other people hold you back.
‘So I might be the oldest one at uni, might be the oldest one in my class, but that’s fine.
‘I had no time to go to university before because I came out of college and I was a full time model, then I went into reality TV, I had children… Now I want go back and study.
‘I don’t live my life on the terms of other people. I do what suits me and my family.’
