As Gary Barlow returns to the stage to perform with Take That at the 2025 BAFTAs, we’ve taken a look at his family life, from how he met his wife to their incredibly tall son
Gary Barlow will perform with Take That at this year’s BAFTAs in honour of their hit song ‘Greatest Day’ being featured in the movie Anora, which has received a whopping seven nominations.
The 54-year-old, who has his upcoming solo UK tour later this year, will reunite with his bandmates Howard Donald and Mark Owen for the prestigious award ceremony, and it was his time on stage where he met his wife. The Take That legend sparked up a romance with his wife, Dawn Andrews, during the 90s when she was a dancer for the famous boyband.
They went on to exchange vows in 2000 and are parents to Daniel, 24, Emily, 22, and Daisy, 15. Tragically, Gary and Dawn lost their fourth child, daughter Poppy, in August 2012 when she was stillborn. Their loss came just a few days before the singer was due to perform at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics with Take That.
Speaking about their loss, he shared in 2024: “I don’t talk about this in great detail and I literally don’t because I’m still kind of figuring it out a little bit. My wife’s emotions were completely different to mine. I’ve been angry for a long time about that, I haven’t really found peace with it yet.”
The doting father has also opened up about his close relationship with his eldest son, who previously made waves online due to his striking appearance in a candid holiday photo. In a throwback video featuring the father-son duo, Gary humorously pointed out their height difference during a joint workout session.
Sharing the clip on Instagram, the 5ft7 dad-of-three, who is noticeably shorter than 6ft2 Daniel, penned: “There’s nothing I love more than spending time with my kids. Here’s a little video of Dan and me having a Father and Son training session. I’m very proud of my boy and his commitment to his fitness.” He added: “Don’t look at the difference in weights. Don’t notice that I’m stood a little further forward to make the size gap smaller. Lol.”
Gary has also spoken about the clear divergence in career paths within his family and confessed that his children seem uninterested in emulating his musical legacy. He told the Mirror: “The two oldest ones, Daniel and Emily, have kind of gone into medicine and physiology – studying strength and conditioning – and my youngest one, Daisy, I’m not too sure what she’s heading for but again, she’s very studious… unlike me and my wife.”
Gary reflected on the prospect of his kids taking up music and said: “I don’t think they will follow in my music footsteps but I wouldn’t have discouraged them though if they did want to, it’s been a good business for me. Every day I still enjoy what I do and when you realise you’re making a living from it, it’s a great, great place to be.”
Delving deeper into his personal life, Gary revealed his family’s nutritional adjustments after his wife Dawn was diagnosed with diabetes. On the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, Gary shared insights into the initial challenges they faced. “When Dawn first got diabetes it took me ages, I was talking to so many people and we have a lot more information now than we did then 12 years ago, but I was like, ‘how the hell do I get flavour into food?'” he quipped.
After much trial and error, Gary reached a culinary eureka moment and admitted: “And I slowly realised, and you’re going to laugh at this, but it took me ages – spices – that’s how we get flavour out of food.” He disclosed that the family has mostly eliminated carbs from their diet, stating: “She doesn’t eat pasta unless it’s gluten free but half of them, now, we’ve found that most of the gluten free stuff is worse for you than the stuff with gluten in. I’ve often found taking out the sugar means, ‘we’ve put a load of c*** in'”.