Former Australian Idol star Jessica Mauboy is riding high with her musical career and recent marriage, but admits there’s still one piece of the life puzzle to fill in.
The 34-year-old, who married long-term partner Thelemi ‘Them’ Magripilis in July 2022, is about to release a new album called Yours Forever.
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She’s also set to head out on an Australia-New Zealand tour and star in a new film called Windcatcher.
But once she manages to catch her breath during her busy career, there’s one other thing Jess Mauboy really longs to do — start a family.
She has told the Australian Women’s Weekly her Greek in-laws have already started asking about babies.
Addressing how long it took for her and Magripilis to marry (they’ve known each other since they were 18), Mauboy said her extended family was ecstatic when they finally tied the knot.
“Now they’re like: ‘Where are the babies’?” she said.
“I want to, I always tell them.
“Yes, I’d love to, but now isn’t the time.
“I do long for that one day … I just haven’t come to making that happen yet.”
The singer added that she was in such a good headspace musically and creatively that she wanted to continue exploring that for the moment.
“I feel I’m in a space where I’m working and making exactly the right music that I’ve always wanted to make,” she said.
“I love being creative and if (a baby) comes along and that’s the right time and the right place, then that’s just a magical bonus of life.”
Mauboy and Magripilis met in a Darwin nightclub and married in the Top End too.
With his Greek heritage and her mixed Indigenous and Indonesian heritage, she described her wedding ceremony as a wonderful coming together of cultures.
“It was a very cultural celebration … a cultural infusion,” she said.
“There were moments when Greek music started and Them was there leading everyone in the dance, because he grew up dancing and still dances traditionally.
“And then … my dad got everyone up with his traditional (Indonesian) dancing and a lot of our uncles and aunties got up on the guitar and started singing hymns.
“It was really, really special to be able to do that and to have everybody that we loved there.”
Despite now being happily married, Mauboy recently opened up about the fact she and her husband “nearly didn’t make it”.
After her success on Australian Idol, Mauboy moved from Darwin to Sydney in 2009, commencing the long-distance relationship until Magripilis’ eventual move in September 2016.
The singer said one of her new songs, Goodbye, was about the time when she and Magripilis nearly split up.
“We were eight years in a long-distance relationship and we felt really apart, we weren’t doing things together, we weren’t creating a future,” she told Daily Telegraph.
“Finally we worked out how to salvage our relationship and made the move together and eight more years later, we’re living this beautiful life together in Sydney.”
Mauboy has previously told 7LIFE their wedding had definitely been a “long time coming”.
“We always spoke about it (getting married) and we would talk about how strong our families are and they get along really well.
“I was always on edge of ‘I don’t know if this is gonna work.’
“I think it really helped that he didn’t know who I was, and we made a pact that we were going to create this relationship and keep it alive.
“He’s such a good fella and I think it really helps that he doesn’t work in the music industry.”
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