Photography: Monkeys and Peas Photography.
When US tourist Justine locked eyes with Kiwi chef Gwithyen Thomas over a teppanyaki grill in Auckland, their instant chemistry sizzled.
“I looked up and had this sudden feeling this guy would be special to me,” recalls Justine, 35.
“She had powerful eyes,” adds Gwith, 37.
“The moment I made eye contact, I told the other chefs, ‘I’m gonna marry that woman.’”
The swoon-worthy romance that ensued was detailed by Justine on social media. But it’s the untold hurdles behind the scenes that makes their story more remarkable.
A recipe for love
After that first lunch, Gwith showed Justine and her family around Auckland on his break, then asked her out. Feeling a bit wary, instead she convinced her family, whom she was travelling with, to return to his restaurant the next evening, where he was incidentally cooking for then-PM Sir John Key.
“As I turned to catch my spatula, I made eye contact, she smiled and I dropped it,” Gwith laughs.
Charmed by the flub, Justine agreed to a date. They danced at an Irish pub, he piggybacked her home in the rain, then he kissed her goodnight. What followed was six months of meeting online daily.
A dream proposal
After several jet-setting visits, Gwith proposed on a horse-and-carriage ride in film editor Justine’s hometown of Denver, where they later wed in her gorgeous backyard.
The two relocated to Los Angeles, started a catering business then opened New Zealand-themed restaurant Aroha.
While preparing to welcome son Bailey, now 10, a then- heavily-pregnant Justine recalls how Kiwi popstar Lorde took good care of her during an event.
“She got me food and water, and didn’t leave my side. When someone approached her, she checked if it was OK to talk to them. I was floored! She was the sweetest.”
The fight to save Aroha
However, with the couple depleting their savings to keep Aroha afloat, a 2018 wildfire forced them to close the doors for good.
At the time, Justine was pregnant again and believes the stress of the “terrifying” period caused a miscarriage weeks later.
“I blamed myself, which later affected my outlook as a mum with our rainbow baby Jasmine,” she says.
“And Gwith felt like he’d failed the restaurant. He also struggled when his mum Janet passed away. Sometimes we’d be at different points in this pool of depression. It wasn’t easy for our marriage.”
Gwith says Justine helped him heal. “I was raised to keep emotions to myself, but Justine gnawed away at me that we’re a team. Having somebody I could talk to got me through.”
Finding her voice
The couple has since moved to New Zealand and rebuilt their life – and now Justine’s finally fulfilling a long-held desire to record her own music.
Writing songs since age nine, she’s delighted that her first album, Not Something Adults Should Say, will be released later this year, with the record’s new single Just A Mom out now, featuring Bailey and Jasmine, six, shouting, “Mum!”
She’s proud she completed the album, despite fighting health hurdles like Covid, tinnitus and fibromyalgia.
“There were days I was exhausted, but not going to the studio made me feel worse. I needed it mentally.”
While recording her songs at Auckland’s Sundream Studios, Justine realised how much others might relate to themes like losing yourself in motherhood.
Gwith understood too.
“Her music reinforces how being a parent’s just a chapter in your life, not the end of the line,” says Gwith, who now runs thriving Ōrewa fish-and-chip shop Fin.
“You can still love and pursue other things.”
The power of chasing dreams
As well as her music, Justine also writes the subscription-based online soap opera Sim Life Chronicles and runs web business Imagine Party Kits.
But it’s her music that’s sparked an adorably healing response from Bailey.
“He said, ‘Mummy, I’m so proud of you’. All the guilt for taking time for myself washed away. I’m teaching my children the importance of going after dreams.”
While keen YouTuber Bailey retains traits from their US homeland, Jasmine’s a “total Kiwi”, running barefoot and singing waiata.
“When you feel like everything’s falling apart, there’s another side to come,” reflects Justine, whose parents and sister Raishel have since moved to New Zealand.
“My favourite quote from my song Dreams is, ‘If everything was meant to be easy, there wouldn’t be reverie’. You can’t dream without challenges and you can’t achieve dreams without getting through those challenges.”
Justine’s single Just A Mom is out now. For more info, go to justinethomas.com.
