AN X Factor legend has married the love of her life 15 years after starring on the hit ITV show.
Samantha Chawner, who auditioned for the judges alongside sister Emma in 2009, tied the knot to Matthew Parkinson after meeting on dating app Badoo in 2019.
The former aspiring singer, who received years of abuse for being part of ‘Britain’s fattest and laziest family’, walked down the aisle at Bolton’s Albert Hall to Shania Twain’s From This Moment.
She told the Mirror: “Suddenly, everything that happened before floated away and I was so ready to start my new life as Matthew’s wife.”
There were 100 guests at the ceremony, though Samantha’s sister Emma and dad Philip were notably absent.
The happy couple celebrated being husband and wife by having a first dance to Ben E King’s Stand By Me at Farnworth Cricket Club.
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It was a proud moment for Samantha after she dropped 10st in weight to get down to 24st and a size 22 on her big day.
The X Factor was the beginning of a tough period in the limelight for Samantha.
She and Emma, who auditioned as a solo artist two years earlier, were rejected after singing Mariah Carey’s Hero.
The out of work Chawner family then appeared on ITV daytime show Lorraine as part of a segment dubbed Big Fat Challenge that followed their attempts to lose weight from their collective 83st total.
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Ultimately, the challenge proved unsuccessful and appearances on The Jeremy Kyle Show and their own reality show The Chawners’ Last Chance followed.
Samantha felt she was never going to meet Mr Right, but then Matthew appeared.
She said: “I saw Matthew and straight away liked the look of him and we began talking. We immediately clicked and shared the same sense of humour. He made me feel relaxed and best of all he’d never heard of me or my family, so he had no preconceived ideas of what I would be like.”
When they met up two months later, Samantha instantly knew he was the real deal.
She said: “As soon as I met Matthew I knew he was the one for me. We met up in a coffee shop and talked for hours. He understood me and was so supportive of me, and it felt right.”
During the coronavirus pandemic the pair moved in together with Samantha swapping Wigan for Bolton.
It caused a family feud and Samantha only made peace with her late mum Audrey days before her death in January aged 73.
In the Christmas of 2020, Matthew hid an engagement ring in an advent calendar window and Samantha duly said “yes”.
Tragically the couple have had three failed pregnancies since, but Samantha is step-mum to Matthews’s three children and they have a French bulldog called Cleo.
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Samantha is currently out of work due to injury while Matthew is unable to because of a spinal condition, but the couple are now optimistic about starting a new life together after years of hurt.
