Gary Lineker, the former England striker and Leicester-born football legend, steps into a new role tonight as host of ITV's prime-time celebrity game show The Box. The programme sees ten celebrities sealed inside large yellow boxes and transported blindly to mystery locations, where they must solve puzzles as quickly as possible to stay in the competition.
Lineker, 65, is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation. He remains the only player to have been the top goalscorer in England with three clubs: Leicester City, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur. He won 80 caps for England and never received a yellow or red card during his long career.
After retiring from football, Lineker became the presenter of BBC's Match of the Day in 1999, a role he held until 2025, making him its longest-serving host. He also served as the BBC's lead presenter for live football matches.
Relationship status and divorce from Michelle Cockayne
Lineker is not currently in a relationship and has said he is "completely done with romance." He was previously married to Michelle Cockayne and later to model Danielle Bux, but has been single for a decade.
Gary married Michelle in July 1986 in Knighton, Leicester. The couple had four sons: George, Tobias, Harry, and Angus. They split in 2006 when Michelle filed for divorce on the grounds of Lineker's alleged "unreasonable behaviour." Court documents at the time claimed his actions had caused her "stress and anxiety."
When the split was announced in April 2006, a joint statement on behalf of the couple said they had "grown apart over the last year or so and led increasingly separate lives with separate interests." The statement added that there was no one else involved and that the agreement to end the marriage was completely "amicable."
Second marriage to Danielle Bux and current single life
Lineker married model Danielle Bux in Italy in 2009. Seven years later, they announced their divorce, saying they remained "the greatest of friends" and "wish each other every happiness." Reports at the time, according to The Sun, suggested the marriage ended because Danielle wanted children and Gary felt he was too old to start another family.
Speaking on Davina McCall's Begin Again podcast this week, Lineker opened up about his private life, saying he doubted he would date again. "I'm single (for) quite a few years now. I dated for a while about three or four years ago and not since," he said. He added: "I've just got so comfortable being on my own. In the sense I'm not sure I could imagine regularly sleeping with someone again or not that you have to, sharing a bed."
However, he noted: "I'm not ruling anything out. Who knows what might happen." Appearing on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Lineker previously said: "I like being on my own. I've got so accustomed to it now and being slightly selfish, but unanswerable to anyone." He added: "No, I think I'm done. I don't know, you never know, but I just can't imagine actually living with someone again."
Health scare and concerns for the future
Lineker has previously revealed he went through a prostate cancer scare. He said: "I have a full body check every couple of years and I did have one prostate scare. It's important to get ahead of it and a lot of men, we sometimes think, 'I'm all right'. We don't want to see doctors. But that's a dangerous game. We are all a little bit scared of having something and I think it's fair to share that."
He added: "It turned out to be nothing with me but it's important to get ahead of it. It makes it a lot worse if you catch it late." Lineker has also shared that he has arthritis in his hands and no longer plays golf because of it.
Lineker has openly expressed deep concern about developing dementia due to his professional football career. He revealed that he consciously stopped heading the ball in training from the age of 20. He undergoes regular health checks monitoring his brain health.
