EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WARMING UP FOR A SPECIAL SUMMERTIME IN LONDON
REVEALS HOW SHE KEEPS THE MAGIC IN HER MARRIAGE AND SHARES HER PRIDE AS HER CHILDREN BEGIN TO SING
Performing with Andrea Bocelli will always bring back happy memories for Katherine Jenkins. It was while she was touring the US with the celebrated Italian tenor that she met her husband, film producer Andrew Levitas, on a blind date.
“For us, Andrea has a lovely personal connection,” says the award-winning mezzo-soprano, who will be a special guest when Andrea headlines the BST Hyde Park festival on 5 July.
“When I think of Andrea, I always think how lucky I was.”
Twelve years later, she still feels lucky. This September, she and Andrew will celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, and in this exclusive interview with hello!,, Katherine reveals the secret to their relationship’s success.
“We have friends, an older couple, who are happily married, and I often ask them for advice.
“I remember him saying to me once: ‘Make sure you’re always your husband’s girlfriend’ – meaning be that fun person, go out on dates. That doesn’t have to stop just because you’re married.
“You still need to flirt and spend time together, and that always stuck with me.”
JOINT ENTERPRISE
She also collaborates with her husband – an artist, director and native New Yorker – on film projects and, more recently, a new gin.
But their most significant joint production to date has been their two children, Aaliyah, eight, and six-year-old Xander, who are as creative as their parents.
Her daughter, she says proudly, is “sassy and courageous” with “a great sense of adventure and the performer gene. She does musical theatre and has joined the school choir. It makes me smile,” says Katherine, who turns 44 this week.
“Even if she never does anything with it, I see her with the buzz I used to have, that excitement from singing with people. I’m so happy she’s found that.”
Xander has also inherited the talent that has made his Welsh mother a favourite with the royal family. “He’s the one who might end up singing one day,” she says.
“He’s got a very similar tone to the one I had when I was his age, and I can tell he likes music. He’s cautious and kind and funny and reminds me of my dad.”
Her father, Selwyn, who died when Katherine was just 15, quietly encouraged her singing, along with her mum. “I feel very fortu
