But three years on, 44-year-old Tess says they’ve both worked hard to put the magic back into their romance and are more besotted with each other than ever.
“Vernon and I still fancy each other loads. Sometimes I look at him and think: ‘Wow’. It takes me aback. He’s a really good-looking bloke. He’s 6ft 4in, dark and handsome. He looks better than ever,” Tess says of her 39-year-old husband, with whom she has two daughters Phoebe, nine, and Amber, four.
Strictly presenter Tess also attributes the success of their 10-year union to the fact she and Vernon have grown up together. “When I met Vern he was still a boy really but he has grown into a rather attractive man. I’m not going to blow my own trumpet but I’d like to think he’d say the same about me.”
Despite working as a professional model since she was 18, Tess tells Woman magazine that she does have concerns about her body but refuses to let others’ opinions worry her.
“Like most women I’ve got wobbly bits I don’t feel confident about. But I’m not about to start pointing arrows at them. I don’t know of any woman who is 100 per cent happy with their appearance. I was in the modelling industry for 12 years and worked with supermodels and even they wear control underwear.”