Emily Maitlis' life off-screen from horror ordeal to 'passing ships' with husband

Emily Maitlis, 53, is a powerhouse journalist known for her fearless interviewing style.

She has built a career on asking questions that few dare to.

Many might recognise her face from Emily’s groundbreaking 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, where she did not shy away from relentlessly questioning his association with Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged relationship with Virginia Giuffre.

She was named Network Presenter of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2020 for her work, and this accolade has cemented her status as one of the UK’s most trusted journalists.

Since her departure from the BBC in 2021, Emily has not slowed down.

She currently co-hosts The News Agents, which is a popular daily podcast about current events.

Emily is also an executive producer of Prime show A Very Royal Scandal for Amazon Prime, which is a dramatization of her own career in the lead up to that famed interview with Prince Andrew.

But when the cameras switch off, Emily Maitlis has a personal life of her own far from the hustle and bustle of the newsroom.

The former newsreader has now been married to investment manager Mark Gwynne for 20 years, and their relationship started in quite a unique way.

The pair met at a party in Hong Kong, where they seem to have connected over being expats working in the bustling metropolis.

Despite going on to face the challenges of a hectic lifestyle and demanding careers, they have maintained a strong bond.

“We’re like ships that pass in the night, but it works,” Emily told Good Housekeeping magazine in 2019.

The journalist also wryly admitted that she’s not one for partying on the weekends anymore, and her favourite night of the week is Saturday because that’s when she and her husband reconnect at home.

“I like a box set, red wine and that is it,” she added firmly.

As the forward-thinking woman she is, Emily proposed to Mark while they were vacationing in Mauritius in 2000.

She had packed a white dress in the hopes of eloping, but Mark was less keen about the prospect of an immediate wedding at the beach.

Ultimately, the couple tied the knot later and went on to raise two sons, Milo and Max.

Emily has spoken about the unique pressures she faced balancing family life with her public image.

During an interview with The Times, she shared that she used to get asked if she felt guilty about being a working mum, and is glad that those ideas are outdated now.

She added: “Having children must have informed what I did. It definitely made me more emotional, and I have a thing about covering any more school shootings – even the idea of them makes me cry.

“But I am so happy not to be defending what I am wearing or being asked whether I feel guilty as a mother if I work. I've left that behind.”

Emily’s success has not come without its challenges, one of which has been a prolonged ordeal involving a former acquaintance turned stalker, Edward Vines.

His troubling behaviour, which began shortly after they both attended Cambridge University, spiralled into a 30-year fixation that involved in multiple breaches of restraining orders and letters to her family.

In 2022, Vines was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Despite this terrifying ordeal, Emily recently expressed empathy towards Vines while on the Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast.

She pointed out that stalking is often a symptom of complex mental health issues, adding: “I think the trouble with stalking is that in our heads it sounds sort of celebrity-related or glamorous – sort of dark streets and high heels – and most stalking has nothing to do with that.

“It's just to do with an obsessional illness in the head of the person.”