Frank Lampard and wife Christine(Image: Daily Mirror)

Frank Lampard's 'awkward' meeting with famous wife, shock family tragedy and radio row

Frank Lampard was one of the best midfielders of his generation, winning everything there is to win in the game, but his personal life has also been far from straightforward

03 Oct 2024, 14:00 by Bruna Reis, John Jones · football.london

Arsenal came away 2-0 winners against Paris Saint-Germain in what was a highly anticipated Champions League match at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night. The game, which was broadcast live on Amazon Prime, featured an impressive panel of pundits, including Frank Lampard, Clarence Seedorf, Daniel Sturridge and Laura Georges.

Lampard, who has lifted the Champions League trophy himself and boasts a successful career with three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Europa League with Chelsea, will be sharing his insights on the game.

Despite mixed success as a manager, leading Derby County to the Championship play-offs and later being sacked by Chelsea and Everton, Lampard remains one of the greatest midfielders of his generation and a respected figure in football. His personal life continues to attract attention, following his marriage to TV presenter Christine Bleakley nearly ten years ago.

The couple have been candid about their life together throughout their relationship, with Lampard also revealing the personal tragedy that left him feeling like a "zombie" at the peak of his career. Here, football.london has taken a look at some of the lesser-known facts about the Chelsea icon.

The 'awkward' first encounter with his wife

Lampard first met his wife, TV host Christine Bleakley, at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2009. They got engaged two years later and tied the knot in 2015, reports Wales Online. They now share two children, five-year-old Patricia and Freddie, aged two, while the footballer has two other daughters, teenagers Luna and Isla, from his previous relationship with Spanish model Elen Rives.

Together, Frank and Christine - known for hosting shows such as The One Show and Dancing on Ice - form one of the UK's most beloved celebrity couples. However, they admit their relationship had an "awkward" beginning, as Christine almost didn't give him the time of day.

"Frank came over to me and said, 'I watch you on The One Show'," Christine shared on Loose Women. "I said, 'No, you don't! Who was my guest last night? 'And he was able to tell me!

"There was an awkward introduction at the party afterwards. I just laughed, and we both giggled about it. Then that was it. He somehow got my number, and I had a withheld number call my phone on the way home. I picked up, and it was him.

"I said, 'Wow, you're keen!' as a bit of a joke, and we chatted, and he said he enjoyed meeting me and would like to stay in touch. It was very relaxed. Then he went away with England the next day, so I didn't see him for a couple of weeks. But we spoke on the phone every single night while he was away, and one night we spoke for four hours."

Elaborating on the development of their relationship, she noted: "So by the time we met again, which was a couple of weeks later, we'd done all the awkward chats. I knew straight away it could be serious because I knew we could be mates, and he made me laugh, and we laughed a lot on the phone. I am very, very glad we met when we did, it was definitely about timing for us."

Unexpected family tragedy

In an unfortunate turn of events, April 2008 brought a shock family tragedy for Lampard. At the age of 58, his mother Pat passed away after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia; despite a week-long fight in intensive care and seemingly improving, a sudden brain haemorrhage led to her death, leaving her family reeling from the loss.

At 29, the Chelsea midfielder was visibly heartbroken, an anguish manifesting itself just days later when he tearfully scored in a match that clinched Chelsea's first-ever spot in the Champions League final — a moment he later dedicated to the memory of his mother, who he called his "best friend". Even years later, Lampard openly talks about his continued grief, recalling those months after as a period where he felt "a zombie" and acknowledged that he was "not right".

Lampard opened up about the toughest challenge he faced with mental health on the Diary of a CEO podcast last year, revealing: "That is the one time I have been challenged to the extreme with mental health," and added: "I was a mummy's boy growing up. I had a reliance on her and when I got older I'd panic like, 'What if mum wasn't there?'

Recounting the tragic event, he said: "I was 29, it was very sudden, I was in a hotel we used to stay at pre-game, we were playing Wigan in the evening. I got a call from my sister telling me she'd fallen ill and going to hospital. Mum was getting a bit better, then we got a call saying she'd passed away, she'd had a brain haemorrhage.

"Just as she was getting better, everyone was excited, she passed away there and then, so it was like the biggest devastation. Years later, I realise that this happens to so many other people and when you're a young man who hadn't really lost anyone, you don't have that real feeling of what that is."

Reflecting on the profound effect his mother's death had on him, Lampard confessed: "I lost the person who was the closest person to me, everything to me. I'll never forget the feeling in my stomach. If I talk about it, I get it instantly again.

"I lost what was my best friend, the person who gave me all of that kind of emotional stuff and warmth. The sudden feeling of someone's not going to be with you, it doesn't compare to anything when you're that close."

He also pondered whether he should have stepped back from football after the tragedy, indicating how deeply it affected him. Reflecting on his career and personal struggles, Lampard shared: "If I look back I think, 'Maybe I should've come out of [football], life is bigger than that' but it was probably a tiny coping mechanism for me.

"We played a game against Liverpool, the second leg, and I scored a penalty, we'd won the game and now we're getting sent to the Champions League final."

He recounted the overwhelming exhaustion he felt after the match: "I remember sitting in the dressing room afterwards, and I had this almighty sense of fatigue, body and mental fatigue. I went home and opened a beer, couldn't even drink it, and went to bed, and everything came out of me then; it was like a week or two full-blast of this complete pain."

The former Chelsea midfielder also opened up about preserving memories of his late mother, expressing regret over not capturing more moments. "I've still got her number in my phone and still got a couple of voice note things," he said. "We were never a family who took videos and stuff, and I wish we were."

Lampard found solace in family resemblances, saying: "The only thing is my mum's sister is Sandra Redknapp, Harry Redknapp's wife, and every time I speak to Sandra, I hear my mum. They look very similar, they sound very similar, and in the first period it was painful, but now it's kind of nice because that's a memory for me.

"The feeling of grief, it catches up with me now and again many years later," he added. "I think I probably had a year where I was single, drinking a little bit, but I was playing fantastic football. I had a really good year of football; it was weird. Then I met Christine, and thank God she came along around at that time because I was a little bit not right."

Radio row

Additionally, Lampard recalled a contentious radio exchange with LBC host James O'Brien, in which he defended himself against accusations of being a neglectful father. The former footballer had been criticised by his ex-partner, Rives, who claimed he had forced her and their children to relocate to a smaller flat while he maintained a bachelor lifestyle in their former home.

Upon learning that the allegations were being discussed on live radio, Lampard called in to refute the claims, taking umbrage with O'Brien's line of questioning. "I find it insulting that you're telling me you would fight tooth and nail and insinuating that I wouldn't fight tooth and nail," he asserted, pushing back against the accusations.

"You don't know anything about me, and you're insinuating I'm weak and scum because I haven't fought tooth and nail. What I'd like you to do in future is think when it becomes the personal issues, about people's families, about people's kids, and you're degrading them as human beings.

"Sometimes you should think about things before you speak about them because you are speaking about personal people now. Next time I'll speak to you man to man, forget the radio show, I'll speak to you man to man about that. Unfortunately I have to live this in the public eye.

"Now someone has approached my ex-girlfriend, pretending to be friendly, caught her at a moment where she is a little bit drunk and down or whatever and got a load of stuff out of her. Someone has conned her basically. She has been conned. And by being conned and then [it] comes out as a pure quote like she has sold her story. She gave her story away in a moment of weakness."

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