Stu Laundy speaks about the current situation with Sophie Monk: "It is a pressure cooker."

Sydney publican turned reality TV star Stu Laundy has spoken for the first time about his relationship with Sophie Monk and the subsequent media fanfare that has followed their relationship.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Laundy said the couple have “no future plans” because it is very “early days”.

“Realistically, in simple terms I have been dating Soph for a couple of months,” he told the paper.

“What sort of couple who have been dating that long get asked walking down the street about kids, marriage, the future? It is very early days. There are no future plans, we are just a couple starting out in a relationship and very happy with each other. It is a pressure cooker. You need a little perspective.

“At the moment we are living in Sydney in a hotel and next week I think we are going to the Gold Coast.”

It comes just over a week after Monk emphatically told The Daily Telegraph she “would love to” have kids with Laundy.

A post shared by Stu Laundy (@stulaundy44) on Oct 29, 2017 at 2:38am PDT

Laundy also told the Daily Telegraph he took a major risk putting himself on the show, telling the paper he had no doubt his ex-wife and her family may have thought him crazy when they learned of his intentions.

“I jeopardised a lot of stuff going on that show and I am very happy I went on because I’ve felt a love I haven’t felt for 20 years,” he said.

Referencing their first interview together on The Project – whereby viewers questioned the authenticity of their relationship after they appeared visibly awkward together – Laundy said they had been up since 5am on the media circuit and both found it tough for their live interview to immediately follow an emotional pre-recorded interview with runner-up Jarrod Woodgate.

“It just felt like we were being thrown to the lions and I know Sophie was extremely upset for poor Jarrod, she is such a decent human being,” he said.

When probed about rumours of a stint in rehab around the time of his divorce, Laundy denied any issues with drugs or alcohol but said he was encouraged by his ex to seek help for many issues including depression.

“The facility had all sorts but for me it was a mixture of stress and anger management. I am not really an angry guy but we had a testing three years prior, heavy workload and work commitments for me and, I guess, a stressful marriage, young children, for me it was more depression when I was inside.”

Listen: Do we have a right to speculate about Sophie and Stu’s relationship?