Gary Lineker has spoken about his current relationship status after being put on the spot about his love life by Davina McCall on her Begin Again podcast.
The former BBC Match of the Day presenter, who now fronts his own Netflix football show The Rest is Football, has been married twice. He was wedded to Michelle Cockayne for two decades and the pair have four sons - George, 34, Harry, 32, Tobias, 30, and Angus, 28. However, after 20 years of marriage, they separated, with Cockayne filing for divorce, citing her husband's alleged "unreasonable behaviour".
The 65-year-old would then go on to marry Welsh model Danielle Bux in 2008. After tying the knot the following year, they divorced in 2016 - allegedly over the former footballer's reluctance to have more children - but have remained amicable ever since. Bux would go on to marry American attorney Nate Greenwald, with the two later welcoming a daughter. Lineker remains on good terms with his second ex-wife, often joining her and her husband for dinner when he is in Los Angeles, where they are based.
Lineker says he is single and comfortable
Appearing on McCall's podcast, Lineker says despite having a number of close female friends that he remains single. Lineker said: "I'm single (for) quite a few years now. I dated for a while about three or four years ago and not since."
McCall reacted with surprise, to which Lineker replied: "I have a lot of female company and companions and friends." Rejecting the notion of "friends with benefits", he added: "I have a lot of female friends for company. I love female company. I really do have a lot of close friends that I see fairly frequently."
McCall inquired whether any of them were his exes, to which he responded: "A couple, but not a lot of them." Putting him on the spot, the host then asked: "Gary, are they all in love with you really though?" Lineker replied: "I don't think so. I think they suffer me. They put up with me," with McCall jokingly commenting that they were all likely just waiting for him to "see the light".
No ruling out future relationship
The former Everton and Leicester City striker admitted that he was "comfortable" being single but didn't rule out being in another relationship again in the future. "I've just got so comfortable being on my own," he added. "In the sense I'm not sure I could imagine regularly sleeping with someone again or not that you have to, sharing a bed. As you get older you tend to make a few more bathroom trips in the night and stuff like that!"
He added: "I'm not ruling anything out. Who knows what might happen, who knows?"
