Mario Falcone, who rose to fame on The Only Way Is Essex, has largely retreated from the tabloid spotlight, embraced family life and confirmed he recently underwent surgery on his eyelids.

Falcone, who joined the reality show in 2011 and was long known for high-profile romances and a party lifestyle, is now a father to two young children and runs a footwear and clothing brand. He and his wife Becky are parents to Parker Jax Falcone, six, and Cali Roux, two, and Falcone has described fatherhood as “the best thing in the world.”

Falcone said he has swapped late nights at venues such as the Sugar Hut for bedtime routines with his son and daughter and for work on his label, Belvotti Milano. Becky Falcone works as a salon owner. The former reality star has also spoken publicly about the emotional difficulties of parenting, saying he experienced "soul-destroying loneliness" while acting as a stay-at-home father. In 2019 he said that as a man he felt reluctant to admit struggle and that there were "so many judgmental parents."

Falcone has also addressed changes to his appearance. He told followers on Instagram that he had undergone upper and lower blepharoplasty, a procedure that removes excess skin or fat from the eyelids to reduce hooded or drooping eyelids and eye bags. He said hooded eyelids had become a source of insecurity and thanked the surgeon, naming Dr. Carlo Debbas. Reports said the operation cost about £3,700.

His public life has included several well-documented relationships and on-screen storylines. He arrived on The Only Way Is Essex in 2011 as Lucy Mecklenburgh’s boyfriend; the pair were a frequent focus of the show. Viewers saw Falcone propose to Mecklenburgh in 2012 during the programme’s Marbs special, but the engagement was called off later that year and the relationship ended in 2013 amid revelations of infidelity. Falcone later had other high-profile relationships and brief romances, including with model Emma McVey, and was linked to co-star Chloe Sims in a widely reported summer 2014 incident.

Falcone began dating Becky in the summer of 2016. The couple became engaged in 2017 on holiday in Santorini and married in Sorrento, Italy, in 2022 after postponing their ceremony twice — first because Becky became pregnant and again because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Falcone is the younger brother of television personality and author Giovanna Fletcher, who won the U.K. edition of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! His shift from a public persona built on club appearances and headline-making relationships to a quieter family focus and a business venture mirrors a broader path taken by several reality TV alumni who have sought to reshape their public images.

Falcone’s comments about surgery and fatherhood follow a pattern of increased candor from reality TV figures about mental health, parenting roles and cosmetic procedures. He has continued to share updates about his family and business on social media while largely avoiding the kind of constant tabloid exposure that marked his early career on television.