Model Annalise Dalins reveals how Daicos family saved her during dark times

The fiancee of Collingwood star Josh Daicos is speaking openly about her heartbreaking family history for the first time, crediting her famous in-laws for restoring her faith in family.

Annalise Dalins has opened up about how the Daicos family has saved her from the hardest time of her life after her parents separated.

Dalins, fiance of Collingwood star Josh Daicos, says she’s been taken in like one of the family’s own which has helped her deal with the trauma of the split in her native Latvia around five years ago.

The model, 24, revealed for the first time that she no longer has a relationship with her father.

“I live with (Josh’s) family now, I love it,’’ she said.

“I know I’m so lucky, a lot of people have tough relationships with their in-laws. They (Peter and Colleen) literally took me under their wing like I was their own. I was really missing the family aspect of what I had when my parents separated. So I think for me, like that really saved me. I still have that family experience.”

Annalise Dalins, fiance of Collingwood star Josh Daicos, says she’s been taken in like one of the family’s own. Picture: Tony Gough

While they renovate their new home, Annalise and Josh live with his parents, his sister Maddie and superstar teammate brother Nick, who is also renovating a new home.

Dalins, who is still close with her mum and younger brother, said meeting Josh was a twist of fate at the perfect time when she most needed support.

“I feel like you always hear people come around at the right time in your life,’’ she told Olivia Rogers in a chat on her Tell Me More podcast.

“And even when the split happened if I didn’t have Josh, I don’t know how I would have gone, because I feel like I could literally see these two polar opposites of this person who set all my love ideals, and I thought was, you know, my hero. They always say for a daughter, their dad is their first love.

Model Annalise Dalins credits the Daicos family for helping her get through the hardest time of her life. Picture: Getty Images

“And that was 100 percent the case for me. And then seeing Josh and who he was when the separation was going down, they were completely different. And I knew exactly where I was going.

“I was going to Josh. Like, that was the person that I just appreciated so much.”

Dalins said she had a great childhood and her “dad was present” but she struggles to comprehend how the dynamic changed.

“Now, unfortunately, I personally don’t recognise the man that he is,’’ Dalins said.

“And I actually don’t know him.

“Time has really gone on and we don’t have anything to do with each other anymore. Like, it’ll be a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and Happy Birthday.

“But I feel like I don’t think that Josh and him are anything similar, like in regards to even love. You really create the love that you want together and you set your own boundaries and you learn together.”

The happy couple became engaged during a romantic getaway to Greece last September. Picture: Instagram

Dalins added: “It’s normal for everyone to kind of have insecurities come and go about your relationship. I know what we have and I know Josh inside out, the person that he is. I know myself. I think you just have to trust.

“Unfortunately life does change, even with us, we’re engaged to get married. It’s a pretty crazy concept because life is so unpredictable but this marriage is the only thing you expect is going to last your whole life. You don’t know what’s going to happen with work and I really like that idea. I think 100 percent Josh and I will make it to we’re 90 and in our rocking chairs in our nursing home. That’s because I feel I know him so well.”

Dalins said she started chatting to Daicos like pen pals over Instagram through Covid and had no idea he was a famous footballer – she thought he played local footy.

She even ghosted him when she found out, but their paths crossed at a venue on Chapel St and she soon learned he was “the sweetest man I had ever met”.

The pair, who first connected through social media, are currently living at Josh’s family home. Picture: Getty Images

The couple got engaged in Greece last September.

“I feel so lucky, he 100 percent is my biggest supporter,’’ Dalins said.

“And I think with him, he’s 100 percent in or 100 percent out.

“I picked that up on him one of the first times I met him. And so I knew he’d be 100 percent in on me. And I think you want someone who believes in you and pushes you in a good way.

“Like sometimes self-doubt creeps in. And he’ll be the first person to be like, ‘oh my gosh, like no way, I thought that was great’.

“I think you know when the partnership is right because you’re both just picking each other up and you’re so proud of each other.”

Dalins spoke to Rogers to also raise awareness for the Witchery White Shirt campaign and ovarian cancer.