James Argent’s romance with girlfriend Stella, 18, gets serious as she meets his friends and ex Lydia in Essex

JAMES Argent showed things are still going strong with girlfriend Stella Turian as she joined him at his birthday bash.

The Italian actress, 18, partied alongside James‘ friends, parents and even his ex Lydia Bright as he celebrated his 35^th.

Stella looked chic in a black jumpsuit arriving alongside Arg, who also wore black.

It’s thought Stella’s parents were also at the star-studded part held at legendary Essex restaurant Sheesh.

Lydia, who split with James in 2016 after a difficult on and off seven-year relationship, showed just how good friends they still are as she arrived with sisters Georgia and Roma.

Arg met Stella in Mykonos when he was attending a friend’s wedding earlier this year.

He recently revealed that they bonded over their love of music and messaged constantly before meeting up again.

Since then he has travelled to Italy to meet her parents and she has been to Essex to spend time with his family.

He explained: “By September I felt I had to see her properly to find out if we were going to be more than friends, so I plucked up the courage and flew out to Italy to see her.

“We’d only met that once in Mykonos and had spoken a lot on the phone and FaceTime.

“I was incredibly ­nervous going out there because I thought she might see me and there might not be a connection.

“The second we saw each other that day we realised there was an ­amazing link between us and that we would like to be more than friends, and it’s just grown.”

Speaking about their romance now, Arg said: “Stella is extremely intelligent, very talented and she’s fluent in four ­languages, including English, which is lucky, as my Italian’s not great, although it’s improving.

“And she’s beautiful, too. “I feel very lucky.

“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself this is all really happening.”