Gary Lineker skipped the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2024 ceremony on Tuesday night for a candlelight dinner with his ex-wife Danielle Bux.
The football expert, 64, enjoyed an evening at Dorian restaurant in Notting Hill with Danielle, while his colleagues gathered at MediaCityUK, Salfords, for the awards.
Gary has resigned as co-host of SPOTY following the news that he will also be leaving Match of the Day after 25 years.
The photos show the couple, who split eight years ago after seven years of marriage, walking side by side in the rain on a busy London street.
Gary smiled as he strolled alongside Danielle, who previously revealed she stays with him whenever he returns to London.
The glamorous mother wore a long black dress, a brown scarf and stilettos, while the presenter looked more casual in a quilted coat, jeans and trainers.
Danielle, 45, who remains close friends with Gary after their marriage, shared photos from the cozy night out on Instagram.
Showing off her table set with salad and wine, the Welsh actress tagged Gary and wrote “Christmas drink” before sharing a cozy selfie of the two awaiting his late night tube ride home.
In November it was announced that Gary would be stepping down from hosting SPOTY after 23 years. Her usual co-hosts Clare Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott returned for the 2024 ceremony.
Gary Lineker, 64, with his ex-wife Danielle Bux, 45, go out to dinner in Notting Hill, London.
Lineker looks at Danielle, who previously revealed that she stays with him whenever he returns to London.
Danielle shared photos from the night at Dorian restaurant in Notting Hill on Instagram.
The BBC pundit will also leave Match of the Day at the end of the season, after 25 years as a star of the show.
The former England striker will continue to present live coverage of the FA Cup before leaving the corporation entirely in two years’ time after the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The deal will see the BBC deliver live coverage and highlights on its TV channels and iPlayer, as well as live audio commentary on Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds.
ITV will offer free coverage of live matches on ITV1, ITV4 and ITVX, plus highlights and exclusive content on ITV Sport’s social accounts.
Gary has remained close to his ex-wife Danielle since their divorce, and previously revealed how the Welsh beauty, who moved to Los Angeles after their split, stays with him whenever he returns to London.
Danielle and Gary split over her desire to have children, while he was comfortable with their four sons, George, 32, Harry, 30, Tobias, 28, and Angus, 26. Danielle had a daughter Ella, 22, a previous relationship.
He previously told the Times: “Obviously I would have done it, but she said, ‘It’s not fair to you.'” So I said, ‘Well, I’d feel terrible if I stopped you from doing it.’
Speaking on his friend Gaby Logan’s The Mid-Point podcast last year, Gary explained further: “It was all about kids.
“She already had a daughter, I had four sons, (but) then her biological clock started ticking and she felt the need.”
“In the end, we decided, ‘Well, why don’t we stay partners?'” he continued, adding that he wanted to leave her free to find someone who was also interested in having a baby.
“She didn’t want me to do something I really didn’t want, deep down, and I didn’t want to stop her from doing something she really wanted, deep down, so we came to a logical and sensible agreement.” (split)’.
Danielle married Nate Greenwald, an American entertainment lawyer in 2019, two years after they welcomed their seven-year-old daughter Romy.
Showing off her table set with salad and wine, the Welsh actress tagged Gary and wrote ‘Christmas tipple’.
Danielle looked gorgeous in a black skirt and snakeskin heels paired with a chunky knit brown scarf.
In 2019, Gary revealed that he speaks to Danielle three times a day, as he insisted they are still “best friends”.
Admitting his bond with his wife is “unusual”, he told the Mirror: “Danielle and I are best friends, we still talk three times a day, we text all the time.”
And he added: “When she comes to London she stays with me and when I go to Los Angeles I see her.”
Gary first married Michelle Cockayne in 1986, during which time they had four children together.
They separated after a 20-year marriage and three years later, in 2009, Gary married Danielle, 19 years his junior.
In 2019, Gary revealed that he speaks to Danielle three times a day, as he insisted they are still ‘best friends’.
The couple chatted as they walked home, and Danielle was a frequent visitor to her ex’s house.
Admitting his bond with his wife is “unusual”, he told the Mirror: “Danielle and I are best friends, we still talk three times a day, we text all the time.”
Danielle and Gary split over her desire to have children, while he was comfortable with their four sons, George, 32, Harry, 30, Tobias, 28, and Angus, 26. Danielle had a daughter Ella, 22, a previous relationship.
Even though Danielle remarried, Gary remains single since his divorce.
In 2021, he stated that he “didn’t mind” intimacy and admitted that he was at an age where his testosterone levels had dropped.
In an interview with The Times, Gary said: ‘I like being alone… I don’t feel lonely. I have the odd appointment here and there, but nothing…
‘Not in terms of a long relationship. I have been married most of my adult life. Two really good marriages, I’m friends with both.
‘I’m still single. I’m not going down that path! I was there before and I tried to explain myself and my friends slaughtered me.’
Gary explained in a 2023 interview: ‘It was purely down to the kids. She already had a daughter, I had four sons, (but) then her biological clock started ticking and she felt the need’ (pictured in 2008)
Danielle married American entertainment lawyer Nate Greenwald in 2019, two years after welcoming their daughter.
Gary first married Michelle Cockayne in 1986, during which time they had four children together.
Despite previously insisting he would remain single, Gary was seen last month enjoying a night out at popular restaurant Dorian with Leila Bartell, a friend of Johnny Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard.
The former England striker rarely goes out with women but spent an evening with Leila, believed to be in her 40s, and their mutual friend Jemima Khan in May.
Rumors were then swirling that Ms Khan and Lineker might have become a couple. A year earlier, he attended his 50th birthday at his estate, Kiddington Hall in Oxfordshire.