Richard was first brought to Ricki's attention when she noticed him on her Facebook 'Friends' list. As fate would have it, the Australian Idol alum ran into said 'Friend' at the Esplanade Hotel two months later.
"It was midnight, we'd been drinking. The classy girl I am, I was standing on a chair sculling a jug of beer and in comes that face I'd seen on Facebook," Ricki told Stellar magazine. "It was like a bullet to my chest. He smiled at me and it was like my knees went from under me. We clicked straight away."
In 2015, the pair wed in France, and soon came the question of when they were going to have children.
Ricki has addressed her decision to remain childless on numerous occasions, lamenting the fact it needs to be justified in the first place.
“For me, it’s simply: I don’t want kids. People on the street ask me, ‘When are you and Rich having kids?’ Stop!” she told Stellar, adding that it's a "personal decision" that can involve a lot of factors depending on the person.
"You can’t tell people how to live their lives. You don’t know what people are going through, if they can’t have kids, or are trying, or have lost a baby.”
She also spoke about her and Richard's decision on The Morning Show, saying that kids just aren't on their radar.
"There's lots of people who really really really really want children, and I think that they're the people who should have kids," she said.
Ricki's own upbringing was tarnished by addiction, which is something that she has spoken about in the past.
“I don’t have an addictive personality, so I sat back watching my parents partying all the time and I grew up knowing that feeling of resentment and watching them thinking, you’re an embarrassment. And I hate what you’re doing and I hate the way you’re acting and I hate the way that you forget about me when this is happening,” she revealed on the Thinkergirl Podcast in 2017.
“And I remember all those feelings, they were so strong when I was growing up. I had a real issue – in my late teenage years when I was really becoming a woman and coming into myself – with the way they were living their life.
Ricki went on to say that, as a result, she has a "grossed out attitude" towards drugs.
“I’m never the messy one, I’m always together. I don’t want anyone to look at me through the eyes that I looked at my mum and dad when they got hammered.”
Despite her decision not to have kids, the Dancing With The Stars contestant still has plenty of youthful influence in her life as a doting 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," she told Stellar.
The star is constantly sharing aunty updates to her Instagram. In November, Ricki revelled in being reunited with her best friend Katie Sanchez's daughter Yumi, whom she deemed her niece when she was born, sharing an adorable beach snap of the pair of them.
"OMG I love her so much!!! 💕🤗 Hanging out with this little nugget is the greatest thing in the whole world 🥰 I’ve missed her so much xxx."
Please remember to drink responsibly. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline 1800 250 015.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit their website.
After more Dancing With The Stars content? Check out the articles below
Every mum can relate to Kylie Gillies' parenting confessions
Kris Smith's candid approach to his fatherhood journey
Marcia Hines was "surprised" her daughter Deni followed in her musical footsteps
How sliding into his crush's Instagram DMs scored Rob Mills a wife-to-be
Why Sonia Kruger prefers to keep her relationship low-key
Once a huge star, Olympia Valance's older sister Holly is now living out of the spotlight
How Todd McKenney was shaped by the strong women in his life
It was dance that brought Helen Richey and her husband together
