When Australian Idol sweetheart Ricki-Lee first locked eyes with her future husband (and manager) Richard Harrison, it was love at first sight.
After rising to fame as an 18-year-old on the second season of the hit reality singing show in 2004 where she placed seventh, Ricki’s career has gone from strength to strength, capturing the hearts of Aussies everywhere.
WATCH NOW: Rapid fire questions with Ricki-Lee. Article continues after video.
But it was Richard who captured the powerhouse vocalist’s heart, the lovebirds meeting through a mutual friend, the sparks flying instantaneously between the pair.
In an interview on the Kyle and Jackie O Show, the hitmaker revealed that after being shown a photo of her future beau on Facebook by a friend, she was smitten.
Fast forward to a few months later, and the pair ran into each other at Melbourne’s Esplanade Hotel.
“I was skulling a jug of beer…and I look and just saw his face at the door and he saw me and smiled,” she recalled to the radio duo.
“He grabbed my hand, he took me to the bar, we had a couple of shots and then I think very soon after that we went back to my place.”
Whilst we are sure the pair enjoyed getting to know each other the night before, their time together was shortlived and Ricki was forced to say a quick goodbye the next morning as she had a plane to catch to Sydney where she was filming Australian Idol.
Knowing they had the start of something special, Richard soon followed Ricki to Sydney, and quickly became her manager – despite having no experience in the field!
“He could see things from an outsider’s perspective that I couldn’t. I was trapped in it. He lifted the cover for me.”
“He got me signed and writing with all my dream songwriters. All the things that should have been done at the start of my career.”
Fast forward to January 2013 and Richard proposed to Ricki after a romantic piano rendition of Colplay’s emotional anthem The Scientist.
“My heart started racing and I was taking deep breaths,” she said. “I started screaming and said ‘Oh-my-god’ about four-and-a-half thousand times!”
After a two and a half year engagement, they tied the knot in Paris at Château Bouffémont in August 2015, Ricki donning a stunning Joanna Johnson gown and dancing the night away (until 5am).
“I wish we could have frozen time to stay in that moment,” Ricki has previously shared with New Idea. “It was magical, absolutely a dream come true, the greatest day of my life.”
However, despite going down the marriage route, Ricki and Richard have decided to keep their family to just them.
“For me, it’s simply: I don’t want kids. People on the streets ask me, ‘When are you and Rich having kids?’ Stop!”
“My mum and my sister had babies around the same time. I love being an aunty. We’ll stay up all night eating pizza, we’ll wake up and have a tub of ice cream for breakfast and send you back to your parents – bye.”
The Raining Diamonds singer has also opened up about the fine line Richard balances as both her husband and manager.
“He’s my husband first and my manager second,” she candidly shared with our sister publication WHO in June 2020.
“So he’ll give me a cuddle and tell me I’m pretty and then he’ll be like, ‘but that song is s**t’. He’s very honest with me, brutally honest, and I am with him, and that’s why we work so well. I don’t have yes people in my life.”
In 2023, Ricki shared a sweet tribute to her hus-manager, as she celebrated the release of her first album in 10 years On My Own.
“I’m so lucky to have this guy by my side. For the last 13 years, we’ve managed to balance our relationship and our working partnership…which isn’t always easy…and every day he has been inspiring, encouraging, and empowering me to do all the amazing things we’ve done together!”
“I might be the one in the spotlight…but he’s the one driving the car while I hang out the window doing crazy s**t! We make a great team, but none of it would be possible without him xxx”
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