Love Island's Matilda is dating a TOWIE star with a taste for reality TV stars
They’ve been together for less than six months, but if the first few episodes of the latest series of TOWIE are anything to go by then Matilda Draper and her boyfriend Roman Hackett are truly, madly, deeply in love.
Matilda rose to fame on Love Island 2024 last summer, where she coupled up with candyman Sean Stone, but she’s just joined the cast of the Brentwood-based reality show after sparking a romance with cast member Roman.
Things have moved very quickly, with Matilda revealing they’ve ‘basically moved in’ together and he’s even got her initials and birthday tattooed on him.
Speaking exclusively to Closer, Matilda said, ‘He has basically moved into my flat. He is there more or less every day. He has got part of the wardrobe – a tiny section that keeps getting bigger and bigger... he leaves his stuff there.
‘It has moved so quick, but we are so pure with how much we love each other. We can’t help but be open, which I love. I wouldn’t want someone who was nonchalant. I want someone to be loud about how much they love me!’
It doesn't get much louder than matching tattoos, does it? The former Islander told us, 'I have got an R and he has got an M in the same place (on inside of their arms). We got that in Amsterdam when we went on our last little trip for Valentines Day. I will probably get hundreds more.'
Matilda gushed, ‘I think it has been four or five months [we’ve been together] now. It honestly feels like I have been with him forever. I can’t imagine life without him.
‘I have met everyone in his family, and he’s met everyone in mine. We went for dinner with my dad and step mum, his mum and his step dad. Our families are integrated now. My sisters love him, so we spend time with all of them and their boyfriends… he has slotted into my life perfectly.’
The reality star couple sparked rumours they were dating late last year before going Instagram official in December when they shared a number of loved up snaps.
Matilda previously dated Sean, who she met in the Love Island villa. They just missed out on a place in the final and continued their relationship in the outside world but called it quits just weeks after returning to the outside world.
‘I broke up with Sean a month after we left the villa. Before that my ex was two years ago,’ Matilda previously told Closer.
‘When you come out [of the villa] is when you know who people are in real life rather than in this bubble. You know if it is going to work or not.’
WATCH Roman Hackett on life before joining TOWIE: ‘I was worried about the racist comments’
Nathan Katnoria is Closer's Senior Digital Writer and resident TOWIE expert. He's seen all 34 (thirty four!) series of the ITVBe show and regularly reminisces about forgotten TOWIE romances from years gone by. Although he's never been to Brentwood, Nathan has interviewed loads of TOWIE faves past and present including Sam Faiers, Chloe Brockett, Diags and Georgia Kousoulou.
