Their designer wardrobes are worth millions and their appetite for a party – and a sprinkling of drama – is the stuff of legend.
Now, a small group of WAGs, wives and girlfriends of the nation’s biggest football players, have offered up the secrets of their gilded lives as part of unprecedented research investigating the impact of their husbands’ careers on their family lives – and the all-important role these women play in their sporting successes.
Ever since ITV‘s Footballers’ Wives shone a gaudy light on the jealousies, rivalries and sexual shenanigans of football stars and their besequinned other halves in the early 2000s, the nation has remained fascinated by the off-the-pitch lives of the game’s heroes – and, in particular, their enviably glossy, well-manicured partners.
And it is every bit as colourful and scandalous as you might expect; from outrageous antics at the 2006 World Cup in Baden-Baden, Germany, to the high-profile ‘Wagatha Christie‘ courtroom clash between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
But the women, who all spoke in detail to sports psychologists at Leeds Beckett University on condition of anonymity, have now described the sacrifices they have made for their husbands’ careers, and the mental toughness required to be a WAG as they struggle to fend off other women, endure vicious trolling on social media, and even find themselves the victims of deepfake porn.
And, at its heart, the study reveals WAGS don’t believe they get enough credit – either from football clubs themselves or from fans – for the background role they play keeping star players on the straight and narrow.
Indeed, the research suggests they should even get counselling paid for by the clubs because of the tough job they do.
The team of academics interviewed seven ‘incredible women’ for their study who were aged between 23 and 34 and whose partners or husbands are all professional footballers. In five cases, they had children together and all have been in their relationship for between four and 16 years.
Coleen Rooney in the gym wear as she is seen leaving an early morning workout session in Alderley Edge, Cheshire
Rebekah Vardy walking the paddock before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit on July 5
England striker, Hsrry Kane pictured with his wife, Kate Kane at the Estadio Azteca Ciudad de Mexico
Three players were current or former Premier League stars, with five playing in England, one in Australia and the other in the US.
Footballers have long had a (sometimes warranted) reputation for womanising, but the WAGs described their frustration at having their social lives and relationships disrupted by other women.
One recalled: ‘[We] would go out, we’d have fun, but then girls would be all over [him] in front of me. It got worse when he moved to [the Premier League].
‘I’m stood there like, ‘The wife is here’. I know girls who sleep with [football] players and then take their watches or ask for a pay-out, so they don’t tell their wives.’
Another revealed: ‘I had been sent a picture of a back of someone’s head kissing a girl, and they said, ‘Have you seen what he’s been doing?’ I showed [him]. It wasn’t him, but I have learnt people will go so far out of their way to stir the pot.’
A third described the violation of finding out strangers had opened an adult website in her name without her consent which used faked images and videos.
‘It made me feel so uncomfortable I did not want to go to the games with people thinking they have seen videos of me doing God knows what. It was not nice for [him] either. I was really upset about it.’
They also complained of the pressure they felt to look good in the public eye. Some received death threats, while others faced online attacks for their appearance.
Megan Pickford, then girlfriend of England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with Annie Kilner, Kyle Walker’s girlfriend
Ollie Watkins’s wife, Ellie, pictured with identical twin sister, Sofia Alderson, at the Fifa World Cup 2026
Jordan Pickford’s wife in amongst the crowd celebrating a Harry Kane goal at the 2026 World Cup
One said: ‘You do lose yourself, you see all the other wives and girlfriends, they’re having work done and you’re like, “Oh, do I need to?” But I think as I’ve gotten older, I’m like, who am I trying to impress? Being a woman is hard but there’s just an added pressure of being a partner of a player, 100 per cent.’
And having little privacy because of their fame, particularly in the higher leagues, also had a ‘horrific’ impact.
One described being photographed in the supermarket. Another, on a beach shortly after giving birth. She recalled: ‘I look like a whale, white as a ghost and then the next day, my picture will be online… and then you read the [nasty] comments.’
Most had faced significant trust issues after people sold stories, while one described how a temporary nanny ‘robbed us’ and ‘took everything’.
‘My engagement ring, my handbags, all my shoes,’ the WAG said. ‘I’d never have anybody working in my home now.’
Most agreed the other WAGs ‘become your family’, particularly after moving to new places, but others described division between the other partners and, in one case, being alienated by ‘a group of Spanish girls’ at a Premier League dinner.
‘From the stories I’ve heard about foreign partners [and] wives, they seem quite, like, not inclusive; it’s just them, and no one else matters.’
And in a little-seen side to WAG life, they describe their loneliness at having to support their footballing partners at their worst, during injury or other stressful times. All described their own needs taking ‘a back seat’ to maintain their partners’ mood.
Jordan Pickford wife Megan Pickford, pictured, wearing a cowboy hat outside a football stadium in the US during the World Cup
Jordan Pickford and wife Megan attend the Liverpool screening of ‘Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story’
One told how, when her husband was injured, he drank and gambled; another said her partner was drinking ‘a bottle of red wine a day’.
Yet the clubs did not adequately acknowledge how such changes could affect life at home, they said. One claimed the ‘stigma’ of being a WAG meant they weren’t considered important, and another added some clubs see partners as ‘extra workload’ who didn’t make them money.
But that, the study found, was not entirely true. It found partners played a ‘critical yet under-recognised role in playing well-being and performance’.
The study, published in the journal Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health, found being a WAG could be an ‘invasive force that could threaten or harm their identity and self-esteem’.
