'I've always loved Carlie but never thought we would be together'

Boxing sensation Lauren Price talks to Jonathon Hill about how she finds herself in the best place she's ever been

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WHEN Lauren Price kissed her then friend Carlie Jones during a night out six years ago, she had no idea Carlie had such strong feelings for her.

Carlie later admitted she'd always been in love with former Wales footballer-turned-champion boxer, Lauren.

The pair are in so many ways different. Lauren, from Ystrad Mynach, came out when she was 13, and Carlie much later.

Lauren is a professional sports star, while Carlie runs a home care company.

Lauren has to spend her working week in Sheffield training every day, while Carlie stays at their home in Blackwood.

The normal things couples do, like eating out together, aren’t an option while Lauren trains for the next fight, but they are head over heels and newly engaged.

Next year, they will marry at Sant Ffraed House near Abergavenny.

“I've found my person,” says Lauren, in an interview to mark coming top in the 2025 Pinc List, an annual celebration of Wales’ most influential LGBTQ+ people, as listed by our website WalesOnline and our sister publication the Western Mail.

Wedging the interview in between a morning run and afternoon training at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, she spoke about her hopes for the remaining years in boxing, her inspiration, and the couple's love story.

“We were friends for more than 10 years,” Lauren says of Carlie, before six years ago they kissed on a night out.

Remaining friends, Carlie had gone to Lauren’s pro fights.

“We had been in different relationships, but then we were single again and in each other's lives and it just happened.

“That was the first time Carlie had been with a woman in that way.

“She cared a lot about what people thought of her, whereas I couldn't have been with someone and hid it.

“I wasn’t going to hide the fact I was with a woman. That's not me.