Gary Lineker’s hefty BBC salary and ‘close relationship’ with ex-wife

Chris Evans discusses Gary Lineker contract situation amid BBC row

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Gary Lineker will return to television screens this weekend to present the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup quarter-finals. The 62-year-old was asked to temporarily stand down from his role last weekend after posting a tweet that accused the Home Office of using “language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.” Lineker has been the face of the BBC’s football coverage for well over two decades, with the corporation’s sporting output being plunged into chaos in his absence. And Express Sport takes a look at how the former England international’s BBC role has helped him stack the cash over the years.

BBC salary

Lineker is the BBC’s highest on-air earner and has been for the last five years. When the BBC revealed how much their star talent were paid in 2021/22, Lineker’s pay packet came in between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999, despite taking a £10,000 pay cut.

His work includes Match of the Day as well as his anchoring duties for the BBC’s FA Cup coverage. He also co-hosts the Sports Personality Of The Year show every year and was the BBC’s main presenter during the World Cup in Qatar last year.

His salary is considerably higher than that of the BBC’s second highest paid presenter Zoe Ball, who earned between £980,000 and £984,999 and dwarves the salary of between £450,000 and £454,999 that third highest paid star Alan Shearer received.

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Net worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Linker has a net worth of £29million. His BBC salary has clearly contributed to his huge net worth, but he has also clawed in huge sums of cash thanks to his commercial tie-ups with the likes of Walkers crisps. Lineker also owns TV production company Goalhanger Films.

‘Close relationship’ with ex-wife

Lineker married his first wife Michelle Cockayne in 1986, with the pair having four children George, Harry, Tobias and Angus. However Lineker and Cockayne divorced in 2006.

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Lineker then tied the knot for a second time in 2009 when he got married to Danielle Bux in Italy following two years of dating. However Lineker and Bux divorced in January 2016 as the former air stewardess reportedly wanted to have children, which the Leicester fan was reluctant to do.

Bux has since married American entertainment lawyer Nate Greenwald, and the couple have a daughter Romy. But, according to Wales Online, Lineker and Bux maintain a close relationship and still talk to each other every day.

“He’s not got a jealous bone in his body,” Lineker told the Radio Times as he spoke about Bux’s new husband. “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?”

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