Peter Crouch has explained why his wife of 15 years, Abbey Clancy, continues to use her maiden name professionally, despite being legally known as Abbey Crouch. The former Liverpool striker shared the revelation on his podcast, That Peter Crouch Podcast, on January 28.
During the episode, Crouch recounted an experience he described as 'quite emasculating' when hotels mistakenly referred to him as 'Mr Clancy'. He said: 'It certainly happens to me when I sometimes, if I've booked a hotel... I'll ring down and then, like, usually in a different country, and they'll call me Mr Clancy. I've been called Mr Clancy on a few occasions. It's not... I don't like it at all. It makes me feel slightly... yeah, not great.'
Crouch clarified that Abbey is legally known as Crouch, but 'everyone just calls her Clancy'. When a co-host suggested Clancy was 'like a work name', Crouch agreed, noting that it meant people knew 'who she was'. Abbey, a model from Woolton, attended St Mary's Primary School and St Julie's Catholic High School before finishing as runner-up on Britain's Next Top Model in 2006.
The couple married in 2011 and have four children together: daughters Sophia Ruby and Liberty Rose, and sons Johnny and Jack. Abbey now co-hosts The Therapy Crouch podcast with her husband. Meanwhile, Abbey took to Instagram on January 30 to wish Peter a happy 45th birthday, posting: 'Happy birthday to my world @crouchy. We all adore you more than anything.'
Abbey has previously spoken about their first meeting in 2005 on Good Morning Britain, recalling that Peter begged for her number but then spoke to another woman while she was away. She said: 'I was like, “How dare you?”' Peter reportedly insisted he was 'just talking', but Abbey asked for her number back, to which he replied: 'You can't give someone your number and then take it back.'
