Danny Malin has criticized “racist” trolls who brand his new fiancée as “Meghan Markle from Yorkshire”.
Romance quickly blossomed between The Rate My Takeaway star, 43, and her partner, Sophie Mei Lan, 34, after they met in November last year. A month later, she proposed to me. Earlier this month, they announced that she was pregnant with her baby.
The couple even launched their own Youtube channel called Mr and Mrs Yorkshire, where they try out new experiences together.
Read more: Danny Malin was ‘blown away’ by ‘absolute dream’ meal in Bradford
Danny said: “We call each other Mr and Mrs Yorkshire as that’s what people called us in the comments. But sometimes Sophie is labeled as Meghan Markle, the Yorkshire version of Meghan Markle. But do we take it as a good thing or do we take it as a racist thing? I don’t know.
“Some of the comments are hitting him like Meghan. She is mixed race but she was born in Sheffield!”.
While most of the responses online have been overwhelmingly positive for the couple, Danny says people have been posting nasty comments about journalist Sophie, calling their relationship “disrespectful.” Like his first fiancée and mother of his three children, Carrie Taylor, 40, died just 18 months ago.
They have falsely said that his children must be “mad” at him for the news. The 43-year-old, born in Watford and raised in Barnsley, says his weight loss has even been used against him. With trolls saying that Sophie has been forcing him to eat certain things.
Trolls say my kids “must be mad”
But none of this could be further from the truth. Danny has spoken about how Sophie has vastly improved her life, after being “so miserable” following the death of her late fiancée.
Danny said: “I put up a post for Mother’s Day and got a bit of criticism. They said that it is disrespectful to my late partner and that the children must be ‘angry’.
“What people don’t understand is that obviously my children have struggled since Carrie passed. But Sophie’s arrival in their lives has been a breath of fresh air for them.
“Especially George, the bond he has with Sophie now. They are like best friends of hers, and on occasion, George has called her Mommy.”
Danny worries about what his children Summer, 13, and George, 11, and Sophie’s children Jasmine, 11, and Arianna, 8, see online when people make these thoughtless comments. He says George was “over the moon” when he found out about Sophie’s pregnancy and cried seven times—”tears of joy!”
Danny continued: “People were criticizing me, saying ’18 months isn’t enough!’ But try to live ’18 months’!
“People have commented that I’ve lost weight and some people have come in saying ‘I bet she’s making him eat this and forcing him to do this.’
“Basically, I would go out to film with a big smile on my face, or I would go shopping, but inside I was very miserable.”
In the time after Carrie’s death, Danny opened up about how he felt his life had turned into a “Groundhog Day” nightmare, where he acted up and neglected his own health.
She would make sure the children were well provided for, always preparing meals for them and making sure they had everything they needed. But then she’d collapse on the couch and sleep until bedtime. Then the next day it would just be a repeat of the same thing.
It formed several “coping mechanisms.” She made home-cooked meals for the children, but she bought take-out food. He also used to visit The White Rose shopping center regularly to “clear his head”.
When he was there, he would visit the Next store and buy the same shirt on a regular basis, as it was the “only one he had left” at the time. He says they came in eight different colors and realized it was a problem when he discovered that he had bought “about 15 in each different color.” She gave most of it to her mother, since she wanted the material to make rag dolls.
Danny said: “I’d make some tea for the kids, but then I’d order takeout, so I was eating junk. Since I met Sophie, I’ve had hardly any takeaways, apart from when I’m working and one I have every Saturday night.”
Since meeting Sophie, who was interviewing him for the Yorkshire Post, he has talked about how much more active he has been and how much he has enjoyed preparing home-cooked meals again.
Danny and Sophie’s Youtube channel can be accessed here.
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