How Partying TV Star Spencer Matthews Turned Life Around to Become 'No and Low' Spirits Creator

Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams

Once Spencer Matthews fulfilled his dream life — a cocktail of TV-stardom, notoriety and partying from Los Angeles to London.

Now, the British reality star and favorite of the tabloids and celebrity magazines — and brother-in-law of Pippa Middleton to boot — has a different kind of cocktail, and life, in mind.

Sober for around two years, Matthews has turned his hand to create an innovative spirits brand Clean Liquor Co., which produces what he calls "no and low" gin, rum and, soon, vodka with just 1.2 percent alcohol by volume.

The 32 year old broke into the British consciousness when he was handed one of the main roles of structured reality show Made In Chelsea, the first The Hills-style series of its kind in the U.K.

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Spencer Matthews Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams celebrate his 32nd birthday

But that career had its roots in a time he spent in L.A., where he had enrolled at age 18 in the University of Southern California after leaving English private school Eton College, where Prince Harry was a pupil several years older than him ("When people are four or five years apart at school you don’t spend too much time with them,” Matthews tells PEOPLE.)

"I spent rather a lot of time in Los Angeles not working!" he says. "I met Spencer Pratt and Brody Jenner and was spending a fair amount of time with them and couldn’t comprehend the level of notoriety that came with the show they were doing."

Back in the U.K., he had proposed an idea for a reality series and then was asked to take part in the new Made In Chelsea.

"We never touched fame like The Hills did — or like anyone with any real talent does," he shares. "But it was great fun. I made some lasting friendships there."

Courtesy Spencer Matthews

With the work came the play — on the party scene.

"On paper I certainly would have been an alcoholic,” he admits. "Most people have different relationships with alcohol — I was able to consume alcohol like a fish and I always thought I functioned rather well."

But he adds, "My relationship with alcohol became an issue towards the very end. It was really draining the life out of my chances of becoming who I wanted to be."

Spencer Matthews

The inspiration for his turnaround was his wife, radio presenter Vogue Williams, who he met – you guessed it – on a TV show, The Jump, in 2017.

"I joked on the very first day when I hadn’t slept the night before that we would get married,” he recalls. "I don’t think she was particularly impressed given its lunacy and nature. But something must have gone right!"

He adds, "My wife is an incredibly strong woman. She had begun to notice inconsistencies of who I thought I was – perhaps I had a larger opinion of myself than what I was actually delivering. She only had to remind me of that a couple of times before realizing perhaps I could pump the brakes on the alcohol."

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Williams, 34, was pregnant with their first child, son Theodore (who arrived in September 2018), at the time he decided to go sober. "The change was so pleasant and almost unexpected how great I felt that it was really easy to not look back for me."

Matthews and Williams welcomed their second child, daughter Gigi Margaux on July 22.

"As most new parents will tell you she is perfect and ideal,” he tells PEOPLE during an untypical British August heatwave. “She eats well and sleeps well, but the heat at the minute is the obstacle."

Theodore has taken to his sister. "There were a few stints of jealousy early on when Mum would be attached to the newborn rather than him,” Matthews says. “He is very affectionate and loving of her, and has understood quite early that being gentle is important."

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He calls his older brother James, who wed Pippa Middleton in 2017, an "inspiration" and someone he has gotten closer to in recent years, as they share the life chapter of having a young family.

Courtesy Spencer Matthews

"James was always very hard working and relatively serious during my not-so-serious days, and we didn’t have much in common," he admits of the 13-year age difference. "With my business doing quite well and him working hard as ever, we see more similarity with one another than ever before. Our families are very close."

"As the kids grow up, I’m sure they will be very close," he adds of his two children and Pippa and James' son, Arthur.

Clean Liquor Co.

Matthews says part of his ethos for his brand is "trying to change the stigma around being sober." He adds, “The big plan is to change the view on how people consume regular strength alcohol."

With the Clean Liquor Co. seeing a rise of 700 percent in sales during the early part of lockdown in the U.K., he is set to launch in Los Angeles (possibly as Clean Co.) in January. In the U.S., the alcohol of the vodka and rum drinks available there will be 0.4 percent. "There’s more alcohol by volume in a ripe banana than any of our products," he shares.

"I know many people are very health conscious in L.A., and there’s a global trend where people are consuming less alcohol,” he explains. "Most people driven to make health conscious decisions are drinking less."

Clean Liquor Co.

"We aim to replicate the mouth feel, and taste of the spirits they are replacing."