Dancing With The Stars judge Mark Wilson was exploring priesthood – that was until the dancer met his wife, Annemarie.
“I went to a few retreats to discover what God wanted of me, but I knew I was very gifted at dancing and there was a sense of a calling from there instead,” he told The Catholic Weekly.
It was right before his 21st birthday that Mark met Annemarie. The sparks were instant. Both were dancers – him ballroom and her Latin – and devout Catholics.
“We started dating before we danced together and I was determined that we were going to be the best,” Mark told the publication.
In the same interview, Mark recalled a time that he and Annemarie were engaged and dancing together.
When a dance teacher told the pair that they were dancing “like a couple of virgins,” Mark confirmed that they were.
“We were young Catholic people in love who wanted a full body relationship but at that time we felt that’s not what God called us to do,” the DWTS judge said.
Dancing together for seven years, Mark and Annemarie went on to win the Australian championship five times, and came 15th in the world twice.
Together they have three children and two grandsons, Elliot and Bennett.
Mark previously spoke to our sister site Woman’s Day about his “beautiful” grandson Bennett’s first sleepover with Granny and Grandad.
“I’d pat him on the back and sing him a song. And then he’d go back to sleep – so we did our grandparent job,” he said of himself and Annemarie.
Over the years, the dancer hasn’t shared too many details about his children. A very justifiable decision, especially when you learn what happened to his family months after Dancing With The Stars first aired.
Twice, an unknown stalker set fire to Mark’s dance studios. After the second time, the stalker called his home phone with a threat.
“We know where you live,” they said, according to Mark. “Don’t set up again or we will burn your house down,” he told Mamamia.
“Whoever it was tried to destroy our lives, and I felt helpless about being able to protect my family. For us, dancing has never been a job, it’s a way of life.”
Petrified, Mark enrolled his children in self-defence classes. The perpetrator was never found.
“We were all numb with the horror of what was being done to us. I knew I had to drive the family. I’d say, we can do this and move on.”
