Time Zones and Takeout: How Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa Keep Love Alive Across the Atlantic

Long-distance relationships get a bad rap—and understandably so. Eight-hour time differences, months between visits, and the constant sting of missing someone in person would test anyone’s patience. But when former Love Island U.K. contestant Chris Hughes, 33, sat down to talk about his year-long romance with JoJo Siwa, 23, he made a surprisingly good case for why geography doesn’t have to be destiny.

Hughes and Siwa met during their respective stints on the U.K.’s Celebrity Big Brother in April 2025 and are marking their one-year anniversary on Wednesday, May 27. They’re separated by an ocean—he’s in the U.K., she’s in the U.S.—but Hughes insists the arrangement isn’t nearly as grueling as outsiders imagine.“It is tricky, but it’s not as tricky as people think,”he told the Daily Mail. Before the last couple of months, when Hughes just returned from celebrating Siwa’s 23rd birthday on May 19 after a prolonged separation, the couple had managed monthly visits in one direction or the other.“If you’ve got the ability to do that and you’ve got the time, then it’s a lovely thing, really,”he added, noting he genuinely enjoys his trips to America and time spent with Siwa’s family and dogs.

The real challenge, though, isn’t sentimental—it’s logistical. Siwa opened up about the nitty-gritty in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly in April, naming the eight-hour time difference as the couple’s biggest hurdle. It’s not just the gap itself; it’s how it fragments their days. When Siwa’s waking up and ready for a sweet morning call and text exchange, Hughes is mid-workday—busy, distracted, unreachable. Flip it to nighttime, and he’s winding down, ready to chat before bed, while she’s still in the thick of her day.“That’s the thing that’s hard to navigate,”Siwa explained with refreshing honesty.

Yet both are clear-eyed about what makes it work: genuine commitment and the willingness to meet each other halfway—literally. Hughes embraces the American trips, treating them as something to look forward to rather than a burden. Siwa, for her part, reframed the struggle:“Long-distance friendships are a beast. Long-distance family is a beast. A long-distance relationship, I think, is the beast of all beasts. But it’s very worth it. Not for everybody, but for me, with Chris, and for Chris with myself.”

That’s the real takeaway here. Distance isn’t a relationship killer if both people decide it isn’t. Money helps—Hughes can afford last-minute flights. Time flexibility matters too. But the core ingredient isn’t logistics; it’s choosing each other, repeatedly, despite the inconvenience. For Hughes and Siwa, one year in, that choice still seems to be paying off.