Laura Kenny's awkward first meeting with husband, heartbreak and BBC controversy

ITV viewers will get another chance to watch Olympic legend Dame Laura Kennytry to win up to one million pounds for charity on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?on Friday night.

The 33-year-old is the most decorated female Olympian in Team GB's history, boasting an impressive five gold medals and one silver from the Games. With a host of world and European titles also under her belt, she has cemented her status as one of the greatest British cyclists of all time, and one of the nation's favourite athletes.

However, off the track, Kenny - who retired from cycling in March last year - has faced some incredibly tough challenges. Her appearance on the ITV gameshow is aimed at raising funds for The Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, following her own heartbreaking experiences with her husband and fellow Olympian, Jason.

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Two heartbreaking losses led the cycling champion to fear that her sporting career was to blame, but there was to be happy news again earlier this year.Here's everything you need to know.

Marriage to fellow Olympian

The Kenny household boasts more Olympic gold medals than some countries have ever won. The cycling star, who first captured the public's attention under her maiden name, Trott, and her husband are the most successful married couple in the summer Games' history.

Her husband is Sir Jason Kenny, who boasts an even more remarkable Olympic record than hers. He has claimed seven golds and two silvers over the course of four Games, making him the most decorated British Olympian of all time.

While the pair have embarked on an extraordinary journey together professionally and personally, their romance didn't begin smoothly. Laura revealed how her future husband seemed more interested in his morning coffee than in her during their first meeting.

Reflecting on her first day at British Cycling's headquarters during an appearance on Loose Women, she explained: "Sir Chris [Hoy] comes up to you and says, 'I'm Sir Chris Hoy,' and you're like, 'Ah' - starstruck, because he's like a legend in our sport. Jason just sat there drinking a cup of coffee... nothing."

Nevertheless, their romance soon flourished, and they were later spotted sharing a kiss while sitting behind David Beckham during the beach volleyball final at the London 2012 Olympics, prompting Laura to publicly confirm their relationship.

"So yes, it's out there, me and @JasonKenny107 are dating," she posted on social media. "Been a little while now, just didn't want the distraction before the games x."

Since then, British cycling's golden couple have been compared to 'Posh and Becks', with Laura admitting such comparisons feel "slightly strange" as she and her husband are "absolutely nothing like" the football legend and ex-Spice Girl.

After getting married in 2016, they have welcomed three children - two boys and a girl - and built up a remarkable joint fortune of £6.5million.

At £3.5m, Laura's individual wealth is thought to be greater than her partner's, thanks to commercial successes including her own bike range with Halfords and lucrative endorsement deals with Adidas and Toyota.

Having initially walked away from cycling in 2016, Jason retired permanently in 2022, taking on the role of Britain's men's podium sprint coach. Laura followed suit last year, joining the BBC as a pundit on their cycling coverage at the Paris Olympics.

Both were recognised for their extraordinary sporting achievements in the 2022 New Year Honours List, with Jason receiving a knighthood whilst Laura was awarded a damehood.

Baby heartbreak

Together, the Kennys have welcomed three children, with their eldest boy, Albie, arriving in 2017 before Monty was born in 2023 and daughter Lilian followed in May this year.

The arrivals of Monty and Lilian followed years of fertility heartbreak for the couple, with Laura suffering a miscarriage in 2021 before a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, where the egg implants outside the womb, the following year.

After admitting that her pregnancy with Albie "felt easy", Laura said she and Jason had been "completely blindsided" by the heartbreaking losses, as she began to blame her body and question if her sporting career was responsible in any way.

"In the summer of 2022, I'd just won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, and I'd never felt lower," she told Stylist magazine. "It had been seven months since I'd had an ectopic pregnancy that ended in emergency surgery, and nine months since my first miscarriage.

"I was in the middle of the darkest period of my life and consumed with want for a baby, but all anyone wanted to talk to me about was racing. All I could think as I left that competition was: why? Why is it that every time I step onto the velodrome and put my body on that starting line it will perform, but it won't do the one thing I desperately want it to?

"The lack of control is the hardest thing to deal with," she added. "As an athlete, I'm used to training to get the outcome I want: I rely on my body, and I understand how to look after it and how to fuel it; it's always been my machine. But suddenly, I couldn't control it. I couldn't just train harder. I could have all the blood tests and wee on all the little sticks I wanted, but I couldn't click my fingers and have the baby that Jason and I wanted so badly."

Recalling her traumatic ectopic pregnancy experience, Laura said she been suffering from stomach pain and "became really ill". Despite this, a GP suggested it was likely another miscarriage and advised her to return for a check-up 12 days later. It was only after seeking a second opinion from a midwife friend that she was urged to rush to A&E immediately.

"If I had listened [to the GP], I would have been dead by then," she said. "In hospital they gave me a blood test, and within 10 minutes, I was told I was having an ectopic pregnancy: a fertilised egg had implanted outside of the womb in one of my fallopian tubes. In the UK around one in every 80 pregnancies is ectopic, but I was clueless. I knew it was bad when they told me I was next in line for emergency surgery, and that I had 12 minutes to fill out all the paperwork before I was taken into theatre."

In the aftermath, Laura admitted she "stopped talking", explaining: "I don't throw around the word depression a lot, but it was absolutely the lowest I've ever felt in my life. Jason struggled too; we both retreated into ourselves.

"The communication between us became horrendous; that's when our relationship was at its weakest. We were arguing constantly over stupid things like not unloading the dishwasher because we were both finding it too difficult to express how we really felt."

However, the pair then decided to plant a tree beside Albie's playroom to draw a line under their grief. They would go on to welcome not one but two precious new arrivals, with Lilian joining the family earlier this year after Monty's birth in 2023.

Announcing Lillian's arrival in May, Laura shared a heartwarming snap on social media of the newborn alongside her big brothers, writing: "Three's the magic number. Lilian Joyce Kenny Born on 4/5/25 at 10.44am. Weighing 8.0lbs.

"Can't stop calling her, him," she added. "There was only ever one name we had in mind for a daughter. A mix of both our Nan's names. Our beautiful little family is complete."

Live TV controversy

Following her retirement from cycling, Laura has successfully moved into punditry work, proving hugely popular with viewers after joining the BBC Sport team for the Paris Olympics last year.

But she found herself in trouble after reportedly receiving a telling-off from BBC bosses over claims she had broken the broadcaster's rules during the Games. The 33-year-old is understood to have been "spoken to" by the corporation after allegedly flouting the rules.

At the time, MailOnline reported that Laura was "accused" of using her screen time to promote high-end fashion labels, which breaches the BBC's "strict guidelines" that ban on-screen personalities from advertising what they are wearing

It was alleged that, during a TV appearance, she had showcased a Breitling timepiece valued at £2,750 and had even tagged the brand in Instagram posts of her wearing the watch on screen.

This was subsequently followed by allegations that she had endorsed fashion brand Reiss when she wore a bright yellow dress during one of her live appearances.

All mentions of the brands were swiftly deleted from her social media profiles, although a representative for Laura told MailOnline: "Dame Laura is not an ambassador for Reiss." Meanwhile, a BBC source told The Daily Mirror: "She is no longer on air but will be removing the tags from BBC-related posts."

BBC guidelines state that "no on-air talent should promote products, goods, services or clothing they use on air. This includes anything they have agreed, or been contracted, to promote or in which they have a financial interest."