Gary Lineker has opened up about his love life and admitted he is currently single, ten years after his second divorce.
The former England player, 65, claims he tried dating four years ago but prefers to be single.
While discussing his relationship status, he says, “I’m single [for] for quite a few years now. I was in a relationship a while ago, about three or four years ago, and haven’t been since.”
Appears on the Start podcast again alongside Davina McCall, the stunned TV presenter told him she couldn’t believe it, to which he replied: ‘I have a lot of female company, companions and friends.’
She quickly interjected to suggest he had friends with benefits – a term for casual sex with a friend – to which he shut down any talk of “benefits.”
He continued, “I have a lot of girlfriends for company. I like female company.’
Gary Lineker has opened up about his love life and admitted he is currently single, ten years after his second divorce
While discussing his relationship status, he says, “I’m single [for] for quite a few years now. I was in a relationship for a while, about three or four years ago, and haven’t been since’ (photo with ex-wife Danielle Bux in 2015)
“I have a lot of really good friends that I see quite often.”
Davina then pressed if the friends were his exes, to which he told her, “a few, but not many of them.”
He dismissed the idea that they are still in love, saying: ‘I don’t think so. I think they make me suffer. They put up with me.”
The former BBC pundit was married to his first wife, Michelle Cockayne, for 20 years, with whom he shares four sons.
He and his second wife, Danielle Bux, separated in 2016 after six years of marriage because she wanted children of her own. He says they are still “best friends” and see each other regularly.
Lineker continued, “I feel so comfortable when I’m alone. In that sense, I’m not sure if I can imagine sleeping with someone regularly again or not, I have to, share a bed.
‘As you get older you tend to have to go to the toilet a few more times during the night and things like that.
He emphasized that he “couldn’t imagine using dating apps” and said: “I’m not ruling anything out.” Who knows what could happen.’
The former BBC pundit was married to his first wife, Michelle Cockayne, for 20 years, with whom he shares four sons
Gary’s first wife Michelle, with whom he shares his four sons George, 34, Harry, 32, Tobias, 30, and Angus, 28, filed for divorce in 2006.
The former couple met when he was an 18-year-old rising star for Leicester City.
During their marriage, Gary and Michelle experienced huge highs, as the footballer became one of the best strikers in the world – earning a pay packet to match, but also faced deep lows, including when the couple’s first-born son, George, battled leukemia at just eight weeks old and was given a survival rate of just ’10 to 20 percent’.
After his first divorce, Gary married Welsh actress and model Danielle in a ceremony in Italy in 2009.
After seven years together, they announced they were going their separate ways because the former didn’t want any more children, but they remain on friendly terms and are regularly seen together at dinner parties and vacations.
Danielle then moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and found love with Nate Greenwald, an Ivy League-educated attorney at CAA.
The model, already parent to daughter Ella, 24, from a previous relationship, welcomed her second daughter, Romy Wren, in August 2017.
