Gary Lineker realised he had one major regret after split from ex

Gary Lineker has revealed he wishes he had picked up cooking skills before his marriage ended.

The ex-England striker, who has been single since his 2016 divorce from Welsh model Danielle Bux, confessed that he leaned heavily on takeaways and eating alone at restaurants after the split.

Now living by himself, Lineker has finally honed his cooking abilities - a development he admits should have happened much sooner. "My one real regret in life is that I didn't learn to cook earlier," he told the Irish Independent. "After I became single nine years ago, I ate takeaways or sat in restaurants by myself."

It is perhaps unsurprising that Lineker, like many pro footballers, didn't make cooking a priority in his youth. Players typically begin their careers as teenagers, juggling intense training schedules while relying on club-provided meals, leaving little opportunity - or time - to learn to cook.

At home, partners or family members often prepare meals and frequent travel during a career further complicates matters.

Since retiring from football, Lineker has pursued a high-profile career in media, which includes irregular hours, travel and late-night commitments - all making routine cooking difficult.

Despite this, he has now embraced cooking, enjoying the process of making his own meals. He has even explored Spanish and Japanese recipes - cuisines he discovered while playing for Barcelona and Nagoya Grampus Eight in the early 1990s - and sometimes cooks for the crew of The Rest is Football podcast when recording at home.

Lineker has been married twice. His first marriage was to Michelle Cockayne, the mother of his four children. They married in 1986 at the height of his playing career and divorced in 2006.

In 2009, he married Cardiff-born Bux, but the couple split seven years later, reportedly due to Gary's reluctance to have more children. Asked about dating again, Lineker's answer was straightforward.

"No, can't be arsed," he said. "I'm so comfortable with how I live now: not answerable to anyone, not even the BBC. I'm very kind of stuck in my ways. I love women's company. I've got a lot of female friends, genuinely just friends and I go out to dinner or cook for them, but I just can't see myself dating again.

"I've had two amazing marriages and I'm still friendly with both exes. Danielle is probably my best friend and it's much better that way than being married."

Lineker's 26-year tenure with the BBC ended abruptly earlier this year. In November 2024, he confirmed he would step down as Match of the Day host at the end of the 2024/25 football season.

He had planned to stay until the 2026 World Cup, but the Leicester-born broadcaster was dismissed in May after posting antisemitic content on social media.

Now fully focused on his Goalhanger Podcasts company - which produces The Rest is History, The Rest is Politics, The Rest is Entertainment and The Rest is Football, in which he appears - Lineker says he's happy not to be "treading on eggshells" anymore.

"In hindsight, it [no longer working at the BBC] is great," he said. "I don't have to tread on eggshells any more. I get on with my life. I was going to finish on the World Cup on BBC so that's the only thing. And actually, now I'm free to do what I want at the World Cup, which I think is great because we'll do a podcast every day."