THEY’RE one of Ireland’s best-loved celebrity couples – and now “dads to two “besotted” dads to two daughters.
Brian Dowling burst onto screens as the second-ever Big Brother winner back in 2001, while husband Arthur Gourounlian is now a familiar face as a celebrity judge on RTE’s Dancing With The Stars.
Happily married since 2015, Brian and Arthur now “can’t believe” they have “two little beauties to keep us on our toes”.
The duo first became parents to daughter Blake back in September 2022, before her little sister Blu arrived in June 2024.
Announcing Blu’s arrival, with the help of Brian’s sister Aoife acting as surrogate, Brian and Arthur said: “Please be upstanding for the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blu Amar Rose Dowling Gourounlian.
“Blu was delivered safely on Sunday June 23 at 1.33pm, weighing 6lb 2ozs.
“We are ABSOLUTELY BESOTTED and actually can’t believe we now have two little beauties to keep us on our toes.”
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the pair, who first met back in 20O2.
Here’s all you need to know about Brian and Arthur’s life together as they expand their family.
HOW THEY MET
Brian and Arthur first met back in 2002 in London, just after Brian had appeared on Big Brother.
Pro dancer and choreographer Arthur, who is Armenian, spoke very little English at the time and had no idea who Brian was until he bumped into him at a TV studio.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy back in 2021, Arthur recalled their hilarious first meeting as he said: “I was dancing in a club and I see this guy coming up to me in a kind of arrogant way, thinking I knew who he was, but I didn’t know so he started talking to me.
“At the time I couldn’t speak English so I said “Bonjour, ca va”, and he was like ‘oh no’.”
The lovebirds dated then for four and half years before breaking up in 2006 due to their busy schedules.
Arthur said: “I just arrived in the UK. I wanted to make my own mark and then we split up for five years, a lot of people don’t know that.”
Brian admitted how he hung onto a unique keepsake from their relationship during their break-up.
He said: “So, Arthur and I broke up in 2006 and he was coming to collect all of his stuff because we had broken up and we had been living together.
“He had a pair of underpants that were like black satin and they had a green shamrock kind of sparkly thing on them.
“And I kept them. And I still have them.
“And I used to wear them when we broke up. Yes. I wore them.”
Brian and Arthur eventually rekindled their romance in 2011 and Arthur admitted: “It was the best thing we ever did.”
WEDDING BELLS
After sparking up their romance again, Brian had made up his mind that Arthur was the one for him and hysterically told him that he must propose to him.
When asked why he had to be the one to propose, Arthur joked: “That is what happens with a princess.”
Once Arthur popped the question in 2014, the couple tied the knot in July 2015 in a beautiful ceremony in Powercourt in Co Wicklow surrounded by their loved ones as well as famous faces including Tess Daly and Louis Walsh.
Before the wedding took place, Brian told how the couple legally got married in London earlier that summer, in case Ireland’s same sex marriage legislation was not passed.
He said: “We did it in London as we didn’t know how the law would go in Ireland. We wanted to make sure we got it right.
“All my friends and family are coming. Our suits are by Tom Ford they are tight fitted. Especially at the back.”
The couple brought their first daughter Blake back to their wedding venue in 2023 to mark their eighth anniversary.
Brian said: “Back to the scene of the crime, we went today but with the baby in tow. It feels weird to think Blake wasn’t at our wedding, as I feel like I’ve known her all my life.
“To stand exactly where we did all those years ago felt odd as neither @gourounlian nor I am the same people, but that’s the joy of getting the opportunity to get older and thankfully wiser.
“Going back to where you got married will always feel special & hold such incredible memories.”
He went on to say: “So many changes over the years, good and bad, but we have to try and stay present and thankful for what we have even when we feel we can’t.”
BUSY CAREERS
Arthur launched his career in Belgium before moving to the UK where he worked as a dancer with acts including Beyonce, Pink, Duffy, Will Young and Leona Lewis.
He eventually become a choreographer and media personality, appearing on Britain’s Got Talent, Children in Need, Celebrity X Factor.
And Arthur was announced as a judge on RTE’s Dancing With The Stars when the series returned in 2022 after taking a break during Covid-19.
Brian is busy working on both Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show and 98FM’s breakfast radio show, but confirmed he’d be taking a break from both for paternity leave around the arrival of the couple’s second child.
BABY LOVE
Following their glamorous wedding bash, the famous pair were open about their hopes of one day becoming parents.
Arthur said: “Having kids has always been my goal. I want to leave a legacy behind us.”
And their dreams came true back in 2022 after Brian’s sister Aoife acted as the couple’s surrogate to carry their first child.
Brian and Arthur welcomed their first baby girl Blake Maria Rose on September 1 2022 at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin.
And Brian said it wasn’t until they were planning to have Blake that some issues with his fertility came to light.
He said: “The infertility is something I’m still coming to terms with, I’m still embarrassed, I don’t know why.”
He added: “I’d never talked about being infertile before because it was so personal. My daughter could read it in years to come and I wanted her to not be hurt by what anyone might say.”
Arthur and husband Brian earlier this year revealed daughter Blake would be getting a sibling – with Brian’s sister Aoife once again acting as surrogate for the pair.
But Arthur revealed how the trio decided to keep the second pregnancy offline this time round to avoid “backlash”.
Arthur explained: “The reason we kept quiet is because we had backlash. People were saying it’s wrong, why should we do surrogacy, it’s incest – educate yourself to understand what’s happening.
“It’s nothing to do with Aoife, she’s helping us and that’s the most beautiful thing. So we decided to not put her on social media because of the backlash.
“We can handle it, but she’s not doing it for fame, for money. She’s doing it for her brother and brother-in-law, to help us.”
Baby Blu was delivered safely on Sunday June 23 weighing 6lbs, 2ozs.
Speaking before the birth, the couple said: “We have already been so blessed with Blake we can’t believe how lucky we are as parents to welcome another baby to our family.”
HOME LIFE
The family spent the first year of baby Blake’s life living in Straffan in Co Kildare, where Brian and Arthur had based themselves since returning from America during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However the pair announced back in April 2024 that they would be leaving behind “memories for life” as they moved out of their Kildare abode and into a bigger rented home in Dublin.
Arthur said: “I mean, me and Brian moved to Ireland during the pandemic without knowing what the future held for us.
“We thought we would be back in America, but we stayed. I am so grateful we did.
“Blake was brought home to this house and so much has happened in our careers and lives since living in this home.”
But after settling into their new abode, Brian revealed the family were still planning a more permanent move.
Paying tribute to Arthur for all of his work during the move, Brian said: “We just about completed our very first week in our new home. It has been full on and I have to say, without Arthur, we would have been completely lost.
“No rest for us as we are still on the hunt for our forever home.”
TOUGH TIMES
Arthur has previously been open about how he and his family were forced to flee Armenia in 1993 when he was just 12-years-old during the war with Azerbaijan and eventually sought asylum in Belgium.
He said: “We had to escape Armenia to save my life. My mom decided to pack everything, and it was a big journey to start.
“I was only like 12 when it started. I’ve seen horror in my life, and my family said, ‘That’s it, we have to leave this country – you can’t survive here or you will be dead’.”
Speaking about living as a refugee in Belgium, he said: “It was horrible. You can’t leave the place for a couple of months so it’s like a prison.
“So you stay in your room and you can walk outside literally 20 meters but if you leave – that’s it, deported.”
Arthur’s dad suddenly passed away when he was 16 due to a brain haemorrhage and it changed his life completely.
Arthur said: “After dad’s funeral I was destroyed and I said, ‘That’s it – I’m changing my life’.”
In recent years, Brian and Arthur were left heartbroken at the sudden death of Brian’s beloved mum Rosie, who sadly passed away in 2018 aged just 61 from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
Brian admitted: “It breaks my heart that Blake never met her nanny Rosie and my mum never even held her granddaughter Blake.
“Sometimes the grief is so hard to process it still takes my breath away.
“On days like today all I have to do is look at my beautiful little girl who just puts a smile on my face.”