By Saffron Otter
The controversial X Factor sisters have endured some tough times before finding happiness.
Samantha Chawner, who tied the knot on Saturday, and Emma Chawner made fame in a duet audition on the X Factor in 2009, after Emma tried to bag a place in the singing competition two years earlier as a solo artist. She was hit with criticism from nasty trolls, however the rest of the family were also the subject of abuse.
They were cruelly branded the "fattest and laziest" in Britain as they appeared in the limelight. As the former reality star celebrates her big day, The Mirror takes a look back at difficult moments of their life.
Just a couple of years after X Factor, the family had been forced to live in their car after being booted out of their home in 2012. Police evicted Emma, Samantha and their parents Audrey and Phil when they refused to hand over the council house keys.
They had been branded neighbours from hell for playing loud music and all-night karaoke. Residents in Ramsbottom, Lancashire, lodged 130 complaints. The Chawners then starred on Nightmare Neighbour in 2016, following over 500 complaints from residents.
After becoming a figure of hate, Emma told the Mirror: "I feel so sad." The daughters, along with their dad Phil, appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show back in 2015 to confront their mum Audrey, who they claimed had walked out on them.
But instead of begging for an apology, mum Audrey used the Jeremy Kyle stage to make a request for the return of her beloved Manchester United scarf. The host couldn't quite believe his ears when she requested: "One thing I want back from you Emma is my Man United scarf back."
Her leaving the home without warning came as a huge shock. Only the day before they all enjoyed a meal with friends and the family insisted she seemed perfectly happy in an interview with the Mirror in 2015. The next day the family set off at 3.30pm to give a relative a lift.
When they got back two hours later Audrey – who struggled to walk and only went out once a week for a brief shopping trip, had vanished. Emma said: "Mum had posted her front door key through, it was on the mat. It was such a big shock. When we said ’bye to her, she was completely normal.
"She was looking forward to Dad’s 60th birthday and their 29th wedding anniversary. We called the hospitals. Mum suffers from septicaemia, cellulitis, a heart murmur, epilepsy, asthma and high blood pressure. Then we called the police."
Audrey had taken her clothes and Philip's iPad and left her wedding ring. Police took the details and an officer later returned. "He told us Mum had been spotted a couple of miles away," said Sam. "He spoke to her and she said she was fine and didn’t want to know us anymore."
The loss took a toll on the daughters, and Emma says it's the reason for her immense weight gain. Speaking with Lorraine in 2020, Emma reflected: "It was the stress that I had with my mum and dad breaking up and losing my dog."
And in an interview with Closer in 2019, the sisters also explained that they turned to comfort eating when their mum walked out on them. Emma, who was diagnosed with diabetes, added: "It was a huge shock to hear that I was making myself ill."
The entire Chawner family weighed 91st between them at one point but after starting her weight loss journey, Emma saw an incredible change. Following her TV stint, Emma went on to drop a massive 12 stone in two years thanks to a huge diet overhaul.
The ex-reality star revealed in a Facebook post: "Two years and a half ago I weighed 28 stone. I am now 15 stone 9. Thank you everyone for your support." Emma shared, alongside an impressive picture of herself, that she had ditched crisps, cakes and biscuits for a healthier routine.
She had previously believed that her weight was not down to diet or exercise but that it was in her "genes". Emma added: "It's not because of what I've eaten. It's because of my genes in my family. Mum's big, my dad's big, my sister's big. No-one's thin in our house."
She hoped her sister would follow suit as she shared her concerns about Sam's size, who weighed 30 stone in 2019 at her heaviest. "Now I just have to get my family to follow my lead – especially my sister Sam," she said. "I don’t understand how she hasn’t got diabetes already; she gets really breathless when she walks. I’m desperate for her to do as well as I have. If I can do it, anyone can."
Following their stint on the ITV daytime chatshow, the family made contact but Audrey didn't return to the home she shared with her husband for 30 years. The family gained notoriety when it was revealed they had claimed £342,000 in benefits over 18 years, and Emma claimed she was too fat to work. However after appearing in a few shows, they and Emma remained out of the public eye.
And in recent times, Samantha and Emma have grown apart after Sam became estranged from the family after leaving home. Over the years, Emma, a childminder, has concentrated on her weight loss journey, saying she is 'loving' the process after now losing 13 stone in five years.
But at the start of the year on January 15, Emma revealed their mum had sadly passed away aged 73. "RIP my beautiful amazing mum," she penned on Instagram. "I'm just letting you all know my mum passed peacefully in her sleep at 4am this morning." The daughter then set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Audrey's funeral after admitting to struggling to fund it.
On the fundraiser page, she wrote: "My name is Emma Chawner and the reason I have done a gofund me page is that my mum passed away on Monday the 15th she died peacefully in her sleep in hospital my mum was lovely caring respectful lady and i miss so much so I would appreciate any help towards her funeral because at time it's really hard for me and my dad to pay for it and I really want my mum to have a good send off any amount of money would be greatly appreciated thank you all so much."
Just the next day, she announced that her dog Ruby had passed away, alongside an adorable photo. "Going to miss her so much, what else can go wrong for me," she wrote on Instagram. On Mother's Day on Sunday, Emma shared the grief she was feeling on the special occasion without her mum. Alongside a graphic of a purple rose with butterflies, she penned: "This is one hard day for me."
