Samantha Chawner, who found fame when she auditioned on The X Factor, shares her unexpected love story with
AMANDA STOCKS
As Samantha walked down the aisle to marry her fiancé, Matthew Parkinson, the strains of Shania Twain’s From This Moment On filling her ears, she was overwhelmed with emotion.
Having never believed she’d be a bride, the 36-year-old said she felt “a million dollars” in her elegant Wed2Be ivory lace and tulle wedding dress and 3m veil.
As Matthew held out his hand to her, with their friends and his family cheering them on, she knew she’d found the love of her life.
To top it off, after many years of battling with her weight and being branded part of Britain’s “fattest and laziest family”, Samantha had managed to shed 10st for her big day, which took place at Albert Halls in Bolton.
“It felt magical,” she says. “As I walked down the aisle towards Matthew in my beautiful dress, everything that had happened before floated away. I was ready for my new life as Matthew’s wife.
“I never thought I’d be a bride or meet my soulmate, but when I met Matthew, we clicked at once, and we’ve never looked back.”
Samantha, the eldest daughter of the Chawner family, became known after her sister Emma, now 34, auditioned for The X Factorin 2007, singing Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On. Simon Cowell branded her a “flump” and said she sang like a baby.
Her tearful reaction prompted parents Audrey and Philip and sister Samantha to burst into the audition room and challenge Simon. The video went viral.
Two years later, Emma returned to audition again, this time with Samantha. They told Simon the family had been evicted because of Emma’s singing. They sang Mariah Carey’s Hero but were once again rejected by the judges.
The family were recruited for a life makeover on Biography Channel show, Lorraine Kelly’s Big Fat Challenge. Then followed The Chawners’ Last Chanceand an appearance on The Jeremy Kyle Show, after Audrey walked out on the family.
Samantha has always struggled with self-confidence and believed love was beyond her reach. But in 2019, she decided to try online dating site Badoo.
She recalls,“I saw Matthew and liked the look of him, and we began talking. We had 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.
“It was three months of talking and video calls before we me
