‘David Beckham of rugby’ dated Charlotte Church but now works in a pub | Rugby | Sport

Few rugby players have transcended the sport quite like Gavin Henson, with the former Wales international once compared to David Beckham for his on-field talent and eventful life away from the game. The flamboyant back was one of the most naturally gifted players of his generation, captivating audiences with his performances on the international stage as he single-handedly turned matches on their head on more than one occasion.

In addition to earning 33 caps for Wales and touring with the British and Irish Lions in 2005, Henson played for three of the four Welsh regions – the Ospreys, Dragons and Cardiff – as well as having stints in England with Saracens, Bath, Bristol and London Welsh, and a spell in France with Toulon. He experienced great success with Wales, being part of two glorious Grand Slam campaigns in 2005 and 2008, while he also won two domestic titles and the Anglo-Welsh Cup with the Ospreys. However, for all the headlines he made for his performances on the pitch, he would make just as many off it, sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Most notably, Henson’s relationship with singer Charlotte Church – who is one of 19 famous faces taking part in the BBC’s new series of Celebrity Traitors – dominated newspaper headlines throughout much of the 2000s, as they became one of the most high-profile couples in British sport.

He would later have stints on reality TV shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, but things now look very different for the former rugby star, who is 43 years old. From his romance with Church to running his own pub, here’s what you need to know about Henson’s life away from the pitch.

Relationship with Charlotte Church

Church, who rose to fame as a classical singer before pursuing a pop career, sparked a media frenzy when she was first seen in public with Henson in April 2005, shortly after she ended her relationship with ex-boyfriend Kyle Johnson.

On her BBC podcast, Kicking Back With the Cardiffians, Church revealed that she sought out Henson after watching him play on TV, saying: “I remember watching on this television, Wales vs England, when Gavin kicked the kick over.

“Then that night – I didn’t know Gav before that – I was like, I’m going to go out and find him in town. He is nice. Actually, I was going round asking everybody, ‘Do you know Gavin Henson? Where will he go out drinking afterwards?’ Nobody knew – but I did find him.”

The Welsh power couple moved in together the following year, and in March 2007, Church announced that she was expecting their first child. They welcomed a daughter, Ruby, later that year, and their second child, a son named Dexter, was born in January 2009.

Their relationship seemed to be flourishing, with Henson proposing to the singer on her 24th birthday in February 2010, the same month she landed a major TV gig on BBC show Over The Rainbow. However, just six weeks later, the couple shocked fans as they announced they were splitting up after five years together.

Church later revealed that the decision was mutual, explaining: “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.”

She also criticised the “insane” media intrusion she experienced before and during her relationship with Henson, having alleged that her phone was hacked by the News of The World, for which she later received an apology and substantial damages.

“The press intrusion was insane, there was all sorts of dark stuff going on,” she said. “There were stories in the papers all the time and lots of things were blown up, misconstrued and made seedy – when they really weren’t.

“There was a lot of shame being thrown at me, with the press desperately trying to make me a figure of sin and push this ‘fallen angel’ narrative. If I had let that shame in, or internalised it, my life could have gone in a very different way.”

Today, Henson and Church maintain a good relationship and co-parent Dexter. Both have found love again, with the former rugby star marrying his long-term partner Katie Wilson Mould in 2019 and Church tying the knot with musician Jonathan Powell in 2017, having asked for Henson’s blessing before they began dating.

Past controversies

Away from his relationship with Church, Henson occasionally made headlines for all the wrong reasons during his career, finding himself in trouble with his clubs and even the law.

In 2007, Henson and three other men were charged with disorderly conduct due to drunken behaviour on a train journey between London and Cardiff, only for the case to be dropped due to insufficient evidence. Two years later in 2009, he also received a police caution for his behaviour during a night out in Cardiff following Wales’ Six Nations victory over England.

Henson also landed himself in hot water after some drinking sessions went too far, as he was sacked by Cardiff after playing just eight games for them, following his “inexcusable” and “inappropriate” drunken behaviour on a flight back from Glasgow in March 2012.

A year later, a drunken comment he made to new Bath team-mate Carl Fearns resulted in the two-time Grand Slam winner being knocked out by the flanker during a team bonding night, in an incident that was captured on CCTV.

Henson has recently opened up about his past behaviour, revealing that he has gained a better understanding of himself after discovering the ‘chimp’ that had been controlling his mind, leading him to leave his previous bad habits behind.

Having “battled for a long time” with his own thoughts, Henson was captivated by Professor Steve Peters’ mind-management book The Chimp Paradox, which explained how to control the ‘chimp’, or “the voice which tells you to do things you maybe shouldn’t.”

“I didn’t understand the thoughts I was having after games where I wanted to go out and drink,” he confessed in an interview with MailOnline. “They were a million miles away from my core values and goals in rugby.

“Now, having read the book, I understand that for most of my rugby career, the chimp was controlling me and running my life more than I was. If I’d found the book while I was still playing rugby, I’d 100 per cent have been a better player and maybe I wouldn’t have made the mistakes I did.

“In social interactions, I probably need a drink because I’m an introvert,” he continued. “If I have a drink, I become more of an extrovert and the chimp has more confidence! I can be good fun on a night out! But now I choose not to go into those environments. I’m not tee-total. In the last year, I’ve probably had one good drink. There’s a place in rugby for sharing a drink with your team-mates.”

New life as pub landlord

While Henson has cut down on his own alcohol consumption, these days he can be found pulling pints. He took over The Fox and Hounds pub in St Brides Major, Vale of Glamorgan, in 2019.

Following a comprehensive refurbishment and restaurant upgrade, the former Wales international shortened the pub’s name to The Fox and now runs the venue alongside his wife Katie.

Discussing the venture with The Times, Henson said: “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.”

Henson – who is thought to have a net worth of around £800,000, having earned around £120,000 annually during the peak of his career – has also recently laced up his rugby boots once more.

Last September, he made his return to the pitch with his boyhood club Pencoed and is now in his second season competing in League 2 West Central, in the fourth tier of Welsh rugby.

Speaking to BBC Scrum V, Henson admitted he is “loving” being back in rugby, saying: “I’m 43 now, so a bit old, as my wife tells me. But I’ve missed it, I’ve missed the physicality of it, and being in a team environment again and trying to win.

“I’m very competitive, I like trying to win, that’s the main thing. We have a good group of boys. We’re aiming for promotion, so hopefully it will be a good season and great for the club.

“I’m playing 10, I would like to play 12 but I am just not quite big enough yet. So I’ll still try to aim to get there but 10 at the moment.”