Gary Lineker and his ex wife Danielle Bux share a very unique relationship, with the two still texting multiple times a day and going on holiday together.
At last year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony in Salford, he chose to dine with his ex at Dorian Restaurant in Notting Hill instead.
The 64-year-old Match of the Day presenter, who recently announced his departure from the programme after 25 years, spent the evening with Danielle, 45, whilst his BBC colleagues gathered at MediaCityUK for the ceremony.
The Welsh actress documented their reunion on social media, sharing images of their table laden with salad and wine, captioning it "Christmas tipple". She also posted a selfie of the pair waiting for their night tube journey home.
Gary Lineker wed Welsh model Danielle Bux in 2009 but they split in 2016PAGary had stepped down as co-presenter of the awards show following news of his upcoming exit from Match of the Day.
The former couple have maintained an exceptionally close friendship since their split in 2016, with Gary revealing they text each other "three times a day" and regularly holiday together.
"Danielle and I are best mates, we still speak three times a day, we text all the time," he previously told The Mirror.
"When she comes to London she stays with me, and when I go to Los Angeles I see her."
Their bond remains strong despite Danielle's 2019 marriage to American entertainment lawyer Nate Greenwald, with whom she now lives in Los Angeles.
Gary has acknowledged that some might find their friendship "unusual", but the pair continue to spend time together, including a holiday in Ibiza last year where witnesses noted they appeared remarkably comfortable in each other's company.
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Their marriage ended due to fundamental differences about having children, with Danielle's desire for a baby ultimately leading to their amicable separation.
"It was purely down to children," Gary explained on Gaby Logan's podcast The Mid-Point.
"She already had a daughter, I had four boys, [but] then her body clock started ticking and she had the urge."
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Gary Lineker and Danielle Bux divorced back in 2016 but have remained on friendly termsPAThe former footballer, who has four sons from his previous marriage to Michelle Cockayne, felt it would be unfair to prevent Danielle from fulfilling her wish to become a mother again.
"In the end, we decided 'Well, why don't we just stay mates?'," he continued.
"She didn't want me to do something that I didn't really want, deep down - and I didn't want to stop her from doing something that she really wanted, deep down."
Danielle went on to welcome daughter Romy, now seven, in 2017, fulfilling her maternal aspirations following their divorce.
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Lineker has left Match of the Day after being its anchor for over a quarter of a centuryBBCShe found love with Nate Greenwald, whom she married in 2019 after meeting when she moved in next door to him in Los Angeles.
Gary has spoken warmly of Nate, saying: "He's not got a jealous bone in his body. We get on really well. We go out for dinner when I'm in LA."
Meanwhile, Gary has remained single since their split, previously telling The Times he was "unbothered" about intimacy and content with his own company.
"I have the odd date here and there, but nothing... Not in terms of a long relationship," he said, adding he'd been married for most of his adult life.
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