Gary Lineker has said he is “done” with romance because he is too selfish to move in with another woman. The former Match of The Day host, 65, is heading to America for the World Cup but he has called full time when it comes any long term relationships.
Gary 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: “I’m absolutely happy on my own…Me and a dog. But my boys are always around.”
Speaking to Louis Theroux for his podcast, he was then asked about romance. He replied: “No, I think I’m done. I don’t know, you never know, but I just can’t imagine actually living with someone again.”
He was then asked about his “physical needs” and replied: “You get to a certain age where it’s so much effort.” He joked about “a big blue pill” and then added: “It might change, but you know, I love women’s company. I’ve got a lot of friends that I go out to dinner with.”
3View 3 ImagesGary with first wife Michelle(Image: Mirrorpix)
3View 3 ImagesGary and Danielle Bux in 2013(Image: ExpressStar)
Lineker is a father-of-four and was married to Michelle Cockayne for 20 years before they divorced in 2006. They have four grown up sons George, Harry, Tobias, and Angus.
Lineker later married Danielle Bux in Italy in 2009 and they ended their six year marriage in 2016, but they remain friends and have been seen dining out together many times since the divorce. Gary stepped down after 26 years as Match of the Day host in May 2025, following criticism over him airing his political opinions on social media.
His departure came after a row following an Instagram post he made about Zionism, which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult.
Looking back on his time there, Lineker said: “I think the BBC‘s problem in this and I understand why it happens, I think they’re so obsessed with trying to placate or appease or keep happy the Daily Mail type newspapers and they’re doing that to people that would get rid of the licence fee in a heartbeat. They just don’t want the BBC, because they’re competitors to the BBC. And then from them asking for me to apologise, they end up apologising.”
Referring directing to the instagram post he added: “That one I felt bad about because that was my mistake. That was my mistake. Because it was not with intent, but I could see why some people would be upset by that. So I felt bad about that and was happy to apologise, which I did. But I think by that stage, I think it’s like a marriage with the BBC. We’d been together for a long time and we were starting to run out of love for each other. I’ll always love the BBC. It’s an amazing, amazing corporation.
“I was going anyway, but we just brought it forward. I thought it seemed to be the sensible thing to do.”
Gary will take The Rest Is Football, made by his production company Goalhanger Podcasts, to Netflix for the 2026 World Cup for a daily TV show, alongside former footballers Micah Richards and Alan Shearer, covering events in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He admitted he was “not sure” how he was feeling about the event, with the politics and controversy around it, but added: “In terms of football, I’m looking forward to it. But the world’s a little bit bonkers at the moment, particularly over the pond.
“So, this World Cup, we go into it and, you know, America’s been attacking one or two countries, which will make it interesting. But I find from my experience of these World Cups, that once it starts, we concentrate on football and all is well with the world.”
* The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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