Gary Barlow says wife Dawn is 'pretty tough' on him as he makes rare comments about 24-year marriage

Gary Barlow has opened up about his 24-year marriage to wife Dawn, describing her as “really, really special”, before jokingly adding that she’s “pretty tough” on him.

The Take That star made the rare comments as he joined Australian hosts Hugh Van Cuylenburg and comedian Ryan Shelton on The Imperfects podcast to talk about difficult topics related to his life, including his journey with disordered eating and the loss of his daughter Poppy, who was delivered stillborn at full term on August 4 in 2012.

In the 57-minute episode, titled The Pain Behind the Pleasure, Gary lovingly spoke about meeting Dawn in his twenties and showered her with compliments, before bravely speaking about the tragic passing of their daughter Poppy, an experience he says “brought them closer together”.

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“I don't talk about this in great detail and I literally don't because I'm still kind of figuring it out a little bit,” he said of his daughter’s death.

“My wife's emotions were completely different to mine. I've been angry for a long time about that, I haven't really found peace with it yet.”

Of Dawn, he continued: “My wife does far better than I do, she is a far stronger person than I am. And she’s really been amazing throughout it. We're one of the lucky couples because for us it's brought us ever closer together and we do have three other children as well and that's helped us.”

When asked what he loves the most about his wife of 24 years, Gary gushed: “She's really special, really special. She's a no-nonsense mum. She brought our kids up, I didn't. I do this job which is bloody all encompassing, I travel all round the world, she gave up her job to bring our kids up.

“Left her dreams to one side and I got to do mine still. She's done a brilliant job, everyone who meets our kids always says how great they are. She's a wonderful woman, she's pretty tough on me, I've got to be honest. She’s the real deal.”

The episode was recorded earlier this year, whilst Gary visited his daughter Emily, Down Under. The 19-year-old has lived in Australia for two years and is expected to stay there for a further two, according to her father.

Other than Poppy and Emily, Gary and Dawn are also parents to Daniel, 22, and Daisy, 13.