Welsh rugby and Six Nations legend Gavin Henson was a riddle wrapped in an enigma during his dazzling playing days.
The flamboyant fly-half kicked off his career with Swansea before becoming an integral cog for Ospreys. His flair and exceptional boot made him a spectacle on the pitch, earning him comparisons to footballing superstar David Beckham.
Henson played a crucial role in Wales’ 2005 and 2008 Six Nations Grand Slam victories and was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005.
Yet, it was his off-pitch celebrity lifestyle that often grabbed headlines. Mirror Sport delves into the 43-year-old’s life off the field, including his wealth, his high-profile romance with singer Charlotte Church, and his gutsy revival of a local pub.
Details about Henson’s current financial status years after his rugby prime are scarce, but it’s estimated that he holds a net worth of £800,000.
During his tenure with Ospreys, where he clocked nearly 100 appearances, he inked a four-year deal in 2005, reportedly worth roughly £120k annually, reports Wales Online.
After this contract ended, he had stints with Saracens, Toulon, Cardiff Blues, London Welsh, Bath and Bristol, but as his form gradually declined, his earnings likely did too.
The dynamic duo that captured hearts, Henson and Church, burst onto the scene in 2005 when they were first seen in public. Two years on, the Welsh singer delighted fans with the arrival of a baby girl, followed by a second bundle of joy in 2008.
From day one, the press were all over their fairy-tale love story. But the spark didn’t last; just a few months after announcing their engagement in 2010, the couple called it quits.
While they’ve never gone into the gritty details of the split, Church shared that it was a joint decision, confessing: “When he proposed, I was overjoyed. It was amazing. I really was going to marry Gav and spend the rest of my life with him.
“But then he came back from Norway, and he’d changed, and I’d had time to think. We had both had a change of heart – so we were both of the same mind.”
Today, the former flames maintain a friendly relationship, actively partaking in their now-teenage children’s upbringing. Henson found love again and in 2019 tied the knot with his longtime sweetheart Katie Wilson Mould.
After hanging up his rugby union boots in 2019, Henson couldn’t resist giving rugby league a shot and signed up with West Wales Raiders in League 1 the following year. However, this chapter was short-lived, and he hasn’t played for them in four years.
Also in 2019, Henson dove headfirst into the world of hospitality, becoming the proprietor of The Fox, a gastropub tucked away in the Vale of Glamorgan, which he now runs alongside his wife, Katie.
Speaking to The Times, the former rugby star admitted: “I was coming to the end of my career, and it [the pub] had been sat here for 18 months, two years.
“It was not nice for the village, and I needed something to do after rugby and to be busy, not to mourn rugby and get depressed, as they say everyone does.
“But be careful what you wish for because this is so full-on. We want to feel like we’ve achieved something with the pub. We’re perfectionists. We’re all about the detail.”
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