Chris Hughes is opening up about how he and girlfriend JoJo Siwa make it work despite living on different continents.
The former Love Island U.K. contestant, 33, met Siwa, 23, during their respective stints on the U.K.’s Celebrity Big Brother in April 2025 and are celebrating their one-year anniversary on Wednesday, May 27.
In an interview with the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Hughes admitted it was “tricky” to make time for one another when he lives in the U.K. and Siwa lives in the U.S.
Hughes noted he just got back from visiting Siwa for her 23rd birthday on May 19 after “a number of months apart,” which marked the “longest time we’ve been apart” since making their relationship official last year.
“It is tricky, but it’s not as tricky as people think,” the reality star said. “Before the last couple of months, we’d see each other every month, one way or another, whether she be over here [in the U.K.] or I go out there, so it’s never as strenuous as people think.”
“I think when you can jump on a flight and get yourself out there, if you’ve got the ability to do that and you’ve got the time, then it’s a lovely thing, really,” he added. “I kind of embrace it in the respect that I love going over to America. I love spending time with her and her family and the dogs, and it’s obviously very different to being in the U.K., but I kind of like that.”
When they are apart, however, Hughes said, “Obviously, yes, you miss each other. That’s very normal. Like, it would be stupid if you didn’t. But it’s not as physically demanding or as stressful, I think, [as] what people would think it would be.”
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly in April, Siwa shared her own thoughts on the couple’s long-distance romance.
“Long-distance friendships are a beast. Long-distance family is a beast. A long-distance relationship, I think, is the beast of all beasts,” the “Karma” singer said. “But it’s very worth it. Not for everybody, but for me, with Chris, and for Chris with myself.”
“The biggest challenge for me: we have an eight-hour time difference, because it gives us like a six-hour window that we’re both awake. We’ve gotten used to that,” she explained. “The thing that is trickier to navigate, is when I’m just waking up, ready to check my phone, have a sweet call, text for a little bit, that’s the middle of his day. You’re not on your phone, you’re out doing things, working, or with friends. That’s the thing that’s hard to navigate.”
Siwa added, “At night it’s the same thing. He’s in bed on his phone, ready to go to sleep, ready to talk for a little bit. I’m just in my day, active and I’m busy.”
