Lineker cries foul over cost of divorce
HE is more normally to be heard analysing underhand tactics on the football pitch.
But Gary Lineker is crying foul over the behaviour of some divorce lawyers.
The 55-year- old former England striker has gone through two marriage breakdowns.
He wants to see the whole process of divorce settlements simplified to a ‘mathematical equation’.
Lineker, who hosts BBC1’s Match Of The Day as well as BT Sport’s Champions League coverage, claims lawyers manipulate their involvement to boost their fees and as a result create ‘hate’ between the parties involved.
He announced in January that he and his second wife, model and actress Danielle Bux, 36, were divorcing. The couple are understood to have agreed a financial settlement and remain on good terms.
Even though Lineker, who played for teams including Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona, is worth about £20million, he and Miss Bux used a government website to formalise the split. The online
‘Try to make you spend more money’
divorce site costs around £400, saving the couple tens of thousands of pounds in legal fees.
Lineker, who was previously married for 20 years to Michelle Cockayne, mother of his four sons, cannot hide his contempt for the divorce system.
He told Radio Times: ‘Just generally speaking, it’s very easy to get married and very difficult to get divorced. And we know that lawyers try to manipulate it to make you spend more money and basically end up hating each other.
‘I think there should be a mathematical equation that goes straight to the courts and they sort it out.’
It was claimed that Lineker split from Miss Bux because she wanted more children but he did not want to father another child at his age.
Miss Bux has a 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship but was said ‘desperately’ to want another baby.
On Twitter after news of their split broke, Lineker wrote: ‘Thank you all for your kind words. @DanielleBux and I had many wonderful years together. We remain very close and the greatest of friends.’ Miss Bux, who has since moved to the US to pursue her acting career, added: ‘We have shared the most incredible 8 years that I will always cherish. We will remain the best of friends.’
Lineker, who also advertises Walkers Crisps, married his first wife in 1986. Miss Cockayne, a trained beauty therapist, got to know Lineker because her family ran a flower stall beside his parents’ pitch in Leicester Market.
He has previously said: ‘I kept ask- ing her to marry me but it was nearly three years before she agreed.’
Miss Cockayne divorced Lineker in 2006. She claimed their relationship had irretrievably broken down because of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’. In High Court papers Miss Cockayne, now 50, said the former England striker, known as football’s ‘Mr Nice Guy’, had caused her ‘stress and anxiety’.
Following their split ,Miss Cockayne initially moved out of their £2million mansion in Sunningdale, Berkshire, but later moved back in.
No details were given about their financial settlement.
Lineker was introduced to Welsh underwear model Miss Bux the following year by a mutual friend who set them up on a blind date.
High Court judges routinely criticise the exorbitant costs in legal bills run up by wealthy couples during divorce battles.
Last year, top divorce judge Mr Justice Holman ordered a Russian beauty queen and her lawyer husband to settle their differences out of court – as their case was set to cost £1.25million.
Ekaterina Parfenova – a 42-year-old former Miss World, and her husband Richard Fields, 59, had already racked up £1million in legal bills in a dispute over money before they reached court.
Rather than granting the couple a ten- day trial to settle the dispute, which would have cost another £250,000, Mr Justice Holman ordered them to negotiate between themselves.