14 December 2023 , 18:58
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My Mum, Your Dad star Roger Hawes marked yet another relationship milestone moment as girlfriend Janey Smith was invited along to celebrate an important family birthday.
The pair, who featured on Davina McCall's ITV dating show earlier this year, have since found long-lasting romance after vowing to tackle their long-distance relationship. They are going from strength-to-strength as she came along to toast the 27th birthday of his daughter Alex.
Roger, 59, and Janey, 47, and other family members joined in and he took to Instagram, showing off a photo of the group indulging in tequila shots followed by lime wedges. He captioned the post: "Birthday celebrations for my beautiful daughter Alex." The telly favourite also shared that they were in Nottingham enjoying a Christmas market where they warmed up in a log cabin booth, with Janey opting for a cosy bobble hat.
Roger Hawes and Janey Smith are making things work despite the distance (Getty Images for The National Lo)
She joined the party as the couple go from strenth-to-strengthAs well as Alex and Jess, Roger is also father to Ben, 22. His sweetheart Janey also appeared on My Mum, Your Dad with her own son, Will. Janey and Roger, the only couple from the show who are still together, spoke to This Morning about managing the distance. Janey lives in West Sussex while Roger is based in Derbyshire.
Speaking about their love and the challenges they face, she said: "We have met each other and without sounding sad, we do want to be together! There will be lots of holidays. At the moment we are at each other's houses, we've not been apart for a very long time!'
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Talking to OK! Magazine about their Christmas plans, Janey revealed: "I think he'll be with his family for the day and I'll be with mine, we'll meet up Christmas evening and bring the families together." She added: "We just want to spend time together that's the main thing and we just want to have a lovely time and enjoy things together. We're both aware of how lucky we are that this has happened."
Janey has also spoken about her relationship with Roger publicly, telling one curious fan that it was "so worth it" to be travelling "lots of miles" to see her new beau in the flesh. She also shared a photo of the pair cuddling up in bed together with the saucy caption, "What an amazing journey… Saturday mornings just got a whole lot better."
Roger shared his emotional journey of finding love again after losing his wife, Joanna, to cancer 18 months prior. He recounted the heartbreaking story of how she went to bed one night and never woke up. He detailed that Joanna, who was 52 at the time of her passing, discovered a spot behind her ear while they were holidaying in Italy.
This seemingly innocuous mark later turned out to be melanoma. "We were on holiday in Italy and I just looked behind her ear, and it was irritating her - just a little spot behind her ear," Roger shared, visibly moved by the memory. "I advised her to get it checked out when we returned home, which she did. She received medical attention promptly, and it was diagnosed as melanoma. However, unbeknownst to her at the time, the cancer had already spread to her brain."
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