Gary Lineker's huge BBC salary, 'weird' love life and model ex-wife

Gary Lineker will step down as host of Match of the Day after over 25 years in the role, the BBC has confirmed.

The former England striker took over from Des Lynam on the BBC's Premier League highlights show in 1999 and has been the face of the broadcaster's football coverage ever since. He will leave Match of the Day at the end of this season before departing the corporation altogether following the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.

During his time as host, Lineker has contributed to some of the programme's most memorable moments, including when he opened the first show of the 2016/17 season in his underwear after his beloved Leicester City had stunned the football world to win the Premier League in the previous campaign.

The 63-year-old has also made headlines for his personal views, with an online post over the UK's asylum policy seeing him briefly suspended by BBC bosses last year and leading the corporation to review its social media guidelines.

As one of the world's top sports presenters, Lineker has also seen his personal life scrutinised with his romantic relationships and feud with his brother Wayne often making headlines. Here's everything you need to know.

Net worth

Lineker was one of the greatest footballers of his generation, representing Leicester, Everton, Spurs and Barcelona as well as winning 80 caps for England. However, his time in football ended before the financial boom brought about by the Premier League, with most of his net worth coming from his television career.

As well as his decades of work for the BBC, the 63-year-old has also worked with TNT Sports and famously fronted advertising campaigns for brands like Walkers crisps.

Today, his net worth is estimated to be around £30 million, according to the Mirror.

That is in no small part down to his enormous BBC salary, with the corporation revealing in its annual salary report in June that the presenter earned between £1,300,000 and £1,354,999 for 2023/2024.

Lineker, who has been the BBC's highest earning star for the past seven years, had reportedly volunteered to take a huge pay cut of around £350,000 to continue presenting MOTD, but will now leave the show altogether.

'Weird' love life

Since he first took his place in the MOTD hotseat, Lineker's romantic history has also been the subject of headlines with the presenter himself admitting that people would find some aspects of it "weird".

He married his first wife, Michelle Cockayne, in 1986 and he shares four sons - George, Harry, Tobias, and Angus - with her. However, they split up after two decades together, with Cockayne filing for divorce on the grounds of her husband's alleged "unreasonable behaviour."

The former Three Lions hero then began dating Welsh actress and model Danielle Bux in 2008 and the couple got married the following year. They later divorced in 2016, reportedly due to the ex-footballer not wanting any more children, but they have stayed close friends.

That friendship has continued despite Bux marrying American lawyer Nate Greenwald and having a daughter with him in 2017, with Lineker going out for dinner with them on more than one occasion.

["Greenwald] has not got a jealous bone in his body," the presenter told the Radio Times. "We get on really well. We go out for dinner when I'm in LA.

"It might be unusual and people might go, 'That's weird' but, frankly, I don't care. What is normal? Is it better to get divorced and end up fighting, screaming and shouting? Or is it better to get on if you can?"

Opening up about his love life in an interview with The Times last year, Lineker confirmed he was single at the time.

"I am single," he said. "I like being on my own. I know it sounds a bit mad. I have lots of company. I've got lots of friends and I've also got my boys... I don't feel lonely. I have the odd date here and there but nothing serious in terms of a long relationship.

"I've been married most of my adult life. Two really good marriages, I'm friends with both," he explained. "I'm not saying whether it'll change. It might do. I don't know. But at the minute I'm very comfortable."

Since that interview, Lineker has been seen having dinner with Jemima Goldsmith, the ex-wife of former cricketer and Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. However, rumours that the pair were dating were quickly put to bed.

Feud with brother

The presenter was once involved in a bitter feud with his younger brother Wayne, with the siblings going years without speaking to each other after a falling out.

Growing up together in Leicester, the brothers shared an incredibly close bond, but as they got older and pursued very different careers - with Wayne building a nightlife empire - they grew apart.

They maintained a good relationship for many years and used to meet twice a week for a game of golf, while they would speak often over the phone. However, following Lineker's marriage to Danielle Bux, Wayne claims that all changed.

"In my opinion, Danielle cost me my relationship with my brother. Sadly Gary is no longer a part of my life," he told The Sun in April 2015, as he reflected on a cold first encounter with the model. "They came to Ibiza in August 2008 and it was really awkward. I didn't spark with Danielle and our relationship was cold."

While Wayne was Gary's best man at his first wedding to former wife Michelle Cockayne, he declined to attend his wedding to Danielle having been told that his then-girlfriend, model Ana Tanaka, wasn't invited just months before the big day.

"He was my brother and he was telling me that I couldn't bring my girlfriend of a year and a half to his wedding," Wayne later said. "She was a lovely, polite girl, and not a five-minute girlfriend."

He also claimed his efforts to repair their bond were unsuccessful, with an uncomfortable phone call on Gary's 50th birthday lasting less than a minute. Wayne confessed he had given up, adding: "I would love nothing more than him to call me up tomorrow and ask to go to lunch to speak about it, but I don't think it's going to happen."

However, by August 2017, the brothers had started to work towards mending their relationship, with Wayne telling the Sunday Mirror: "We talk now. We are not how we were years and years ago, but we speak more now. We are slowly getting there.

"It's important. He's my brother. We were so close. We used to play golf twice a week, go to each other's houses and speak every day on the phone."

Wayne has also said he is Gary's "biggest fan", adding: "There is probably no one better. He works hard and is a very intelligent man. He has always been protective of his image, which has paid off in the years. He is a very respected man and has done well."