FROM FOOTBALLER’S WIFE TO SWIMMING MUM
Abbey’s happy to be cheerleader to her champion daughter
There was a time it seemed Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy’s oldest daughter Sophia was destined to follow in her mother’s high-heeled footsteps. At eight years old, she stepped into the modelling world, posing alongside her mum in a Lipsy campaign. But it seems that, two years on, Sophia has gone in the other direction and is following in her dad’s athletic footsteps.
Last week, Abbey shared pictures of the ten year old posing with five medals she’d won at a swimming competition. Writing, “My girl!” on a post of her eldest child, alongside the hashtags, #100MFREE and #GOLD, it seems Abbey, 36, is embracing her new role as a swim mum. While she may have been more used to sitting in football stadiums supporting her husband of 11 years, Peter, it looks like Abbey will now be taking up residence at the side of swimming pools up and down the country if Sophia’s success continues.
Abbey – who is also mum to Liberty, seven, Johnny, four, and two-year-old Jack – had previously spoken about wanting Sophia to pursue whatever career she chooses. “I personally think life is too short,” she said after images of her and Sophia posing together two years ago were released. “You have to do what you love and enjoy. She wants to be a model today. She might want to be a vet, pop star, doctor, footballer… I just want her to be happy.”
Having been criticised for “launching” Sophia’s modelling career at the tender age of eight, Abbey responded at the time, “I just think there’s so much other stuff going on in the world. Any excuse to have a bit of fun and make a special memory with your daughter. It’s something I would never push her into doing. She really wanted to do it. It was a great day.” ■