Jordan Stephens shares the most romantic thing he’s done for girlfriend Jade Thirlwall and her hilariously blunt response to his new show

Jordan Stephens has revealed how he wooed his girlfriend Jade Thirlwall as his new series The Ex-Wife questions how far people will go in the name of love.

The pop duo went public with their romance in 2020 and have been non-stop adorable ever since.

The Rizzle Kicks musician opened up about his romantic side and shared a sweet story of how he tried to impress Thirlwall when sparks started flying.

‘When I first started dating Jade I snuck out of bed first thing in the morning and drove around where we were staying to try and find her a croissant with crunchy spread and get back before she woke up and so she could wake up to that,’ Stephens said in an exclusive chat with Metro.co.uk.

‘That’s when we were first going out though and now we don’t like each other,’ he joked.

‘But I know a lot of people fall in lust [instead of love] and then do crazy things and once I was heartbroken and ran away to Brazil once thinking it was original, but it wasn’t.’

When looking for the latest project to sink his teeth into, Stephens was instantly hooked when reading the script for The Ex-Wife.

Jordan Stephens and Jade Thirlwall have been dating for two years (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

Sam (Jordan Stephens), Baby Emily, Tasha (Celine Buckens), Jack (Tom Mison) and Jen (Janet Montgomery) in The Ex-Wife (Picture: Paramount Plus)

‘Oh I was fully gripped and read the scripts straight away and back-to-back,’ he said.

‘I was taken aback and knew how good the story was.’

His comments come soon after the release of the new drama based on the novel of the same name by Jess Ryder.

As the four-part series begins, the woman at the centre of it all, Tasha (played by Celine Buckens) forebodes that ‘love can justify almost everything, if you believe in it hard enough’ as she is shown apparently running her husband Jack’s (Tom Mison’s) ex-wife Jen (Janet Montgomery) off the road.

‘It can make us all do terrible things,’ she adds.

While Tasha has been living the dream with the perfect house, a loving husband and their beautiful baby girl Emily, there’s also been a blot on the marital landscape—Jen is always around and seems intent on staying in the picture.

Tasha (Celine Buckens) and Sam (Jordan Stephens) rekindle their friendship (Picture: Paramount Plus)

In the series, Stephens plays Tasha’s best mate Sam, who she has a falling out with after falling pregnant.

Things are made more complicated due to the fact that the pair had a one-night stand just before the affair, leaving him a little dejected.

While he takes his chance to rebuild bridges after Tasha reaches out again, there are hidden motives behind his return.

Twists and turns abound as the intentions of all four keep audiences on their edge of their seats in this pacey psychological thriller.  

Around the same time that their friendship is rekindled, things come to a head with Jen, who appears to become increasingly erratic and unpredictable.

At the same time, Jack becomes distant, and Tasha is struggling to keep up in a world of extreme wealth alongside people much older than her.

‘I think Sam’s role in the show, which is very important, is to remind the audience that Tasha is a fish out of water,’ Stephens said.

‘Sam does get caught up in ways, which you will see. He’s doing the normal thing for someone in their 20s hanging out, drinking and playing video games, whereas Tasha has found herself in a beautiful house in an odd scenario with a red wine drinking stalker.’

Sam might seem like an outsider, but are his intentions pure? (Picture: Paramount Plus)

Incredibly coy about how his character gets wrapped up in the drama, Stephens said they are all more layered than simply being good or evil.

‘They all have the best intentions, but a true sign of good writing is where a character’s morality is ambiguous,’ he said.

‘When we see the humanity in characters and their potential for fallibility as well as their ability to do good, we need to see those balance out, and I think this show does that very well and that’s why I did it.’

Relishing the chance to try and throw audiences off the scent of how it all plays out, Stephens teased that the baby could have a ‘shadow side’ herself.

But, he adds, the series does genuinely have ‘the potential to freak people out’.

‘Not knowing what to believe is something we can all relate to and the allure of a nice face or house or a colourful jumper can sometimes throw us off our intuition a bit and I think all of us have had that feeling where our gut tells us one thing, but our mind tells us another and I think that is why we are drawn to stories like this,’ he said.

Keen to get his girlfriend’s approval for this project, Stephens watched previews of the series with Thirlwall, who gave little away at first.

‘We watched it together and my girlfriend loves shows like this so the first episode finished and I’m sitting there overanalysing my scenes and she doesn’t say anything and then goes . . . “its good”. But that’s how I know it was good and she really liked it,’ he laughed.

Stephens performing with Rizzle Kicks bandmate Harley Alexander-Sule (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Best known as part of the hugely successful hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, Stephens and bandmate Harley Alexander-Sule have never officially disbanded, but have each been releasing music as solo artists for several years now.

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On top of his music career, Stephens is kept busy with acting (he had roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Catastrophe and Starstruck), podcasting, presenting and most recently, becoming a children’s book author.

‘I know, it’s exhausting,’ he replied when asked how he manages to find the time to juggle it all.

‘I’m going to break the Guinness World Record for the most cartwheels across Asia,’ he joked at first, before adding that, ‘if I’m going to answer this as sensibly and honestly as possible, this year for whatever reason a lot of seeds have come to fruition and that’s probably why it seems chaotic.

‘I just like expressing myself, that’s it and I’m just as exhausted as everyone else; but sometimes I do envy those with one creative avenue who can and get to focus on one thing.’

The Ex-Wife is available to stream on Paramount Plus.

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It comes as his latest project, The Ex-Wife, ponders how far we’d go for love