From heartbreak to heroism: Inside Steve Backshall’s emotional journey with Olympic wife Helen Glover – from losing a twin baby to a fairytale Cornish wedding, and the gold medal promise she made for their children’s future.
Helen and Steve are now parents to three children
Steve Backshall and his athlete wife Helen Glover have been married for nine years and have three children together.
From winning gold at the Olympics for her children to suffering a heartbreaking loss, here’s an inside look at Steve and Helen’s romance…
Steve Backshall and Helen’s romance
In 2014, former Strictly Come Dancing star Steve – who features on Bridge of Lies today (Saturday, June 28) – and Olympian Helen met for the first time whilst taking part in a Sport Relief event at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
A year later, Steve popped the question whilst the couple were in the Namib Desert. They tied the knot by the coast in Penzance, Cornwall, where Helen grew up. At the wedding, Steve admitted that “from the second I saw Hels, I knew she was the one”.
Two years later, in March 2018, Steve and Helen announced that they were expecting twins. Helen announced the exciting news on social media by sharing a photo posing against a sunset with her baby bump showing.
She declared that the new arrivals would be the “biggest adventure” of the couple’s lives.
“It will be a big change, but such an exciting one,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s something we’ve wanted together for ages, and we are both really happy – Steve is absolutely beside himself.”
Helen had learned she was pregnant the previous December, when naturalist Steve was away filming.
Steve and Helen lost one of their twins (Credit: The Project / YouTube)
Steve and Helen’s heartbreak
However, a month after Helen’s pregnancy announcement, the couple were left heartbroken when they learned that one of their unborn babies had died.
Taking to Twitter at the time, Helen opened up about the “hard” news.
“Thanks for all your lovely messages. We’ve had the hard news that one baby hasn’t made it, but we are very excited and hopeful for the remaining baby to arrive this summer,” she wrote at the time.
Thankfully, Helen gave birth to a baby boy, Logan, in July 2018.
Steve and Helen’s joy
18 months on from Logan’s birth, Steve and Helen were overjoyed when they welcomed another couple of additions to the family in the form of twins! Helen and Steve welcomed Kit and Willow in January 2020. They shared the news on Instagram.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” Helen captioned the post. “Welcome to the world, little ones. Your big brother is already setting the pace and is so pleased to meet you,” she then continued. “Tips for surviving 3 under 2 on a postcard, please.”
Helen returned to rowing after giving birth (Credit: ITV)
Helen on winning medals for her kids
In 2021, just over a year on from giving birth to Kit and Willow, Helen returned to rowing in the European Championships in Italy.
After winning gold at the women’s pair, Helen said: “Logie bear, little Kit, my Bo. This is for you.”
Three years later, Helen returned to the Olympics, and explained that she didn’t want to come home empty-handed, and having her kids watching her was a huge motivation.
Speaking to The Telegraph last July, she said: “I want a medal in Paris, I don’t want to come home empty-handed. When I think about what it means as a mum to come back and focus on performance, that can be overwhelming. But the other day Logan said to me: ‘I’m so proud of you because of your rowing, you try so hard.’ I just thought, when I simplify it down and think about these three little faces in the crowd, all the other stuff is forgotten. How cool for my kids to see me race,” she said.
Helen achieved her goal of not coming home empty-handed, having won a silver medal at the games!
