Gemma Atkinson and her Strictly Come Dancing star fiancé Gorka Marquez turned heads at the Pride Of Britain Awards, but the former Emmerdale actress has now revealed she wasn’t expecting so much criticism
Hits Radio presenter Gemma Atkinson has been engaged to Strictly pro Gorka Marquez since 2021, so fans were left taken aback when she wore a bridal-style white gown on the red carpet recently, with some believing the choice hinted that the couple had tied the knot in secret.
However, Gemma has now revealed that she faced some more negative remarks about her dress, with social media users messaging the star and accusing her of trying “to steal attention from the nominees” at the Pride Of Britain Awards.
During the latest episode of her and Gorka’s podcast, Lost In Translation, Gemma shared her shock over the claims, as she recalled: “He [Gemma’s stylist Ryan] got me a lovely dress, and it was all white and it was fitted at the top, and all, like, lace at the bottom, and a few people messaged me to say I’d purposely planned to wear a wedding gown to steal attention from the nominees.
“I mean, imagine me having that in my mind,” to which Gorka sarcastically responded: “It’s very you, that. That’s something that you would have come up with, in fact you were, like, three months ago planning that, ‘how can I steal the attention?'”
Defending his fiancée, Gorka clarified that the couple hadn’t prepared for the event in advance and arrived late: “In fact, we didn’t even do the red carpet interviews or anything like that, we were there the last 10 minutes to just go straight in.”
“And I nearly slipped because it was wet, that’s how much prep we had,” Gemma admitted while reflecting on the rainy evening.
She continued to explain to Gorka: “And also, what threw me is a lot of people were saying I’d chose to wear a bridal dress – how do any of them know that’s what dress [I would wear].
“I wore a trouser suit – I was chief bridesmaid for my sister and my bridesmaid outfit was a trouser suit. I wouldn’t wear a wedding dress like that when we get married.”
“You’ll probably be wearing trackies,” the dancer quipped in response, before Gemma agreed her dream wedding outfit would be the “complete opposite” to the dress she wore for the awards.
Gorka was then keen to find out what kind of dress Gemma would like to wear when they eventually do get married.
He remarked: “Obviously we’re not married yet, and you just said that wouldn’t be your kind of dress. What would be your kind of dress?”
Gemma said: “My kind of wedding dress, I like the idea of having like a fitted lace bodysuit, but maybe with fitted trousers, and this little skirt on the back.”
Gorka seemed baffled by the idea, as he exclaimed: “Fitted trousers?” But Gemma was quick to insist that the outfit would look nice on their big day, as she replied: “No, honestly, I’ll show you a picture! I know it’s not traditional…”
The former Emmerdale and Hollyoaks actress went on to clarify: “I basically wouldn’t wear a big white gown for a wedding because if you’re in it all day, it ain’t comfy.”
Back in January, Gorka shared another insight into the couple’s wedding plans, sharing that he and Gemma will tie the knot once their youngest child, son Thiago, gains more independence.
The star, who also shares daughter Mia with Gemma, divulged: “We will do it, it’s just not at the moment. We are very good like this, especially with having the kids.
