Gary Lineker has won the pulse of British public television in an attempt to censor his opinions on social networks. The former Barça soccer player, turned television presenter, has been readmitted to the BBC’s football information program that he presents over the weekend. He was fired after 24 years on the air for his public rejection of the immigration policy of the United Kingdom Government, which contemplates detaining, expelling and denying asylum to those who cross the English Channel by boat, and compared these new policies with Nazi Germany .
Considered one of the best forwards in the world of his time, he is one of the few players in all of history who can boast of not having received a single yellow card during his entire career. A twice-divorced father of four, he was born in Leicester, where he as a boy helped out at his parents’ stall at the fruit and vegetable market until his athletic talent caught the eye of local sports clubs.
Gary Lineker is not currently married, but has been twice before. He was first married in 1986 to Michelle Cockayne, the mother of his four children. Together they raised George (31), Harry (29), Tobias (27), and Angus (25) during their 20 years of marriage, but in 2006 the distance that time had put between them materialized in an amicable divorce in the which she claimed stress and anxiety.
During that marriage, the couple went through hard times when their firstborn, George, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia with little chance of recovery as a baby, in 1991. Against all odds, the little one overcame the disease and has since family became a champion for the CLIC Sargent childhood cancer charity. He was also actively involved with other cancer charities such as Leukemia Busters.
In 2007, Lineker began dating actress and model Danielle Bux, who was 18 years his junior. They met on a blind date set up by mutual friends and two years later married in a secret civil ceremony in Ravello, Italy. Only two witnesses who were friends of the couple attended the wedding, and after the wedding he did not hesitate to adopt the daughter of a previous relationship that Bux had had, but he did not want to have more children.
Precisely, the former athlete’s desire not to have more children was what broke the happiness of his second marriage. They announced their divorce in January 2016. It is believed that the divorce was on good terms, as the couple still share friends and when Lineker visits Los Angeles, he stays at his ex-wife’s house. Very discreet of his private life, at the moment it is unknown if he rebuilt his life after his second divorce.
Through his decades as a soccer player and his career on television, Lineker has become a multi-millionaire. He will now continue to be the highest paid BBC presenter, as he receives up to 1.5 million euros per year for his work. British media calculate his fortune at 35 million euros and he was named in the Paradise Papers with properties in Barbados and a company established in the British Virgin Islands. During the pandemic, Lineker announced a donation of €150,000 to the British Red Cross for virus research.
