'The worst months of our lives.' In 2022, Tom Daley's husband was accused of assault.

Tom Daley is a rare breed of athlete who has become equally known for what he does in the stadium stands as what he does in his chosen sport. 

Back in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, the synchronised diving champion went viral for knitting in the stands, a habit he started during the 2020 pandemic when his husband, the Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, suggested he take up a new hobby during lockdown.

"I ordered some needles and some yarn, went on to YouTube, and taught myself how to knit," he told Out in 2023. "Once I started that, I went to the Olympics and people saw that I knit. One thing led to another."

In the years since Tokyo, Daley started his own knitting company, Made With Love, before he went back into training for this year's Paris Olympics where yes, he was back knitting again. Naturally. 

Great Britain's Tom Daley knitting again in 2024. Image: Getty. 

This year, Tom Daley and Noah Williams won the silver medal for Great Britain in the 10m synchro platform dive, making Daley the first British diver to take part in five consecutive Olympic Games.

It was a moment that was watched by Daley's husband and their two sons, Robbie and Phoenix, with the kids wearing merch inscribed with 'Team Daley' and 'That's my papa' on their shirts.

"Before the competition had started it felt like we had won. Just being able to be there with my family and my kids is so special," Daley said.

"They were stood right above the mixed zone when we were doing our interviews. Phoenix did throw his juice cup at me. I'll have to give it back to him at some point. It nearly took out one of the BBC reporters. It was really nice to have him there and share that."

Out of the pool, Tom Daley is known for his knitting creations. Image: Instagram/@tomdaley. 

Daley paid tribute to his husband, Black, who he met in 2013 before they got engaged in 2015 and married in 2017.

"The people closest to Olympic athletes don't get enough credit for how much they really have to sacrifice and support. My husband has been there all year to be able to take the reins with the kids when I've gone to training camp or competition," Daley added. 

"He has a career of his own and he has been prepared at times to put that to one side for me to be able to achieve my goals. This year was definitely a spanner in the works because we moved to LA and Lance is getting back on with his career and he has been so supportive to allow me to go back and have another go at an Olympic Games. It's just so special to have somebody who has your back and supports you unconditionally."

The controversies Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black have faced.

The relationship between Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black hasn't been all smooth sailing — they've faced some major public controversies.

In 2016 when Sam Smith won the Oscar for Best Original Song, Smith incorrectly claimed in his acceptance speech that he was the first openly gay man to win an Oscar. This prompted a swift response from Dustin Lance Black, who had won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Milk in 2009.

Black took to Twitter, posting a clip of his own Oscar win and pointedly addressing the singer: "Hey @SamSmithWorld, if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiance." Oop! 

More recently, the couple faced another controversy when Black was involved in a bar altercation in August 2022. CCTV footage from Westminster Magistrates' Court showed Black in a heated argument with BBC presenter Teddy Edwardes at a Soho bar. 

Edwardes accused Black of grabbing her wrist, but the case was ultimately dismissed due to inconsistencies in her evidence. The incident reportedly cost the couple £600,000 (over $1 million AUD) and led to Daley and Black deciding to relocate to Los Angeles with their two children.

Daley described this period as "some of the worst months of our lives", he said in an open letter to supporters. 

"This unjust course of action has been of course, hardest and most damaging for Lance, whose resilience astonishes me. You continue to be the best dad to our two children and your support for my return to diving has been amazing."

Despite these setbacks, Daley and Black's relationship appears to be stronger than ever.

What we know about Tom Daley's husband and two kids. 

Tom Daley met his future husband, Dustin Lance Black, through a mutual friend at a dinner party in LA in 2013. 

"It was a real love-at-first-sight thing," Tom told the Observer. "The first night, I took him to meet my friends and said: 'This is my boyfriend'. The next night we went on our first date. The next night he asked me to be his boyfriend. The night after that, after a couple of lychee martinis, he told me he loved me."

By 2015, they got engaged and in May 2017, they got married in a Shakespeare-themed ceremony at Bovey Castle in Devon. The couple have a 20-year age gap between them which is something that doesn't phase Tom.

"One thing I learned early on is not to care what other people think," he told The Guardian in 2018. "That’s been useful since I've been with my husband. I'm 27, he is 47. People have their opinions, but we don't notice the age gap. When you fall in love, you fall in love." 

After getting married, Tom and Dustin were keen to become fathers asap. "For as long as I could remember, I have wanted to be a parent," Daley told the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast.

"I think because of the relationship with my mum and dad, we were so close and then, when I lost my dad, it was like, I want to be everything that he was to me to someone else because every child deserves to have what I had with my dad because it was such a special relationship, we were so close."

Tom Daley's husband Dustin Lance Black and their kids, Robbie and Phoenix. Image: Getty. 

On June 2018, the couple welcomed their first son, Robert 'Robbie' Ray Black-Daley, via a surrogate, a name chosen to pay tribute to Tom's late father, Robert Daley. 

The diver boasted about his relationship with his son during a chat with HELLO! at The Fashion Awards. "He's so amazing. He's three and a half now, coming up four. It's so special to have a little buddy that you can just take with you to do things and see things through a new set of eyes," said Tom. 

"I'm loving doing things I would have never been able to do without our son - things that perhaps may look a bit weird doing as an adult - but if I take my little buddy along I can get away with anything!"

Then in April 2023, the couple confirmed the birth of their son Phoenix on Instagram. 

"PHOENIX ROSE BLACK-DALEY. Our family has grown in the last week, we welcomed Phoenix to the world on 28/03/23 and he's just perfect," Daley wrote. 

Despite Daley planning on stepping away from diving after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics, he admitted that something his son said had driven him to compete in the Paris Olympics.   

Tom Daley and Noah Williams win silver at the Paris Olympic Games. Image: Getty. 

"There was this video of what it means to be an Olympian, and of course, by the end of it, I was crying, and Robbie turned to me and said, 'What's the matter, Papa, what's the matter?' I said I missed diving and I missed the Olympics, and Lance looked at me and said, 'Oh no, I know what this means'," Daley laughed. 

"And Robbie was like, 'I want to see you dive at the Olympics'. And that was that." 

Feature image: Getty. 

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