Wayne Lineker’s life – jail, Love Island romance and ‘world’s most selfied’ man

Wayne Lineker has gone from selling fruit and veg at a market to becoming the “most selfied man in the world” – but not without its controversy.

The 62-year-old hit the headlines this week after shocking footage showed him being knocked unconscious while protecting a female friend outside Ibiza’s Eden Bar. But the incident is unlikely to stop Lineker getting endless photographs with fans.

He previously revealed he has up to 600 selfies a day and jokes he’s “the world’s most selfied man”.

He explained on the ContentCast podcast: “People started asking pictures back in about 2012 and I thought ‘Oh this is fun, this is cool,’ and then the next year it got to be more, and then the next year I got more and the next and now it’s the thing – you’ve not been to Ibiza unless you’ve got a picture of Wayne Lineker.”

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And it’s not just everyday folk that love getting snaps with Lineker. His party hotspots have become popular among footballers over summer breaks, with the likes of Jack Grealish often jetting to his Spanish clubs.

Wayne admits he achieved his fame through his footballing icon brother Gary. He said: “I wanted to move away from the markets, and I wanted to move abroad but I didn’t know what to do. At that time my brother was super-famous; he was scoring goals, he was captain of England, and I thought ‘I have the same second name so why don’t I use it?’ So I opened a bar called it Lineker’s.”

The instant success of Lineker’s meant Wayne could afford to open a second venue in Marbella and then he made the move to Ibiza where he opened his wildly popular Ocean Beach nightspot.

But his endless attempts to drum up publicity for his business led to some embarrassing mis-steps. He posted a cringeworthy advert inviting young women to apply to be his girlfriend that – although he did label it as “banter” – led to international mockery.

One typical comment at the time read: “Has Wayne Lineker been hacked or is he just being himself? Hard to say”, while another said: “I don’t know what’s worse, a 58-year-old grandad seeking a wife younger than his daughter, or the fact Wayne Lineker considers Waitrose ready meals to be cooking.”

Wayne has always been a controversial figure. In 2006, he was jailed for two and a half years for a £220,000 tax fraud. A court hear how he systematically smuggled cash into Britain using a “tried and tested” system, using unsuspecting family and friends as “mules.”

As well being as one of the famous faces on reality show Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion, Wayne has in the past been romantically linked to the likes of model Danielle Sandhu and Chloe Ferry, although the Geordie Shore starlet says that they are just close friends. Wayne claimed he also dated Love Island winner Ekin-Su before she found fame.

He ruefully admits his love life has not gone smoothly. He continued: “Been married twice, divorced twice. Been engaged twice and broke up twice.” But Wayne is a devoted family man, and dad to three sons Duane, Sean, and Freddie, and a daughter called Tia.

Wayne’s clear preference for dating women that are younger than himself led to a grim moment in November last year when a 12,000-strong crowd at Wembley Arena repeatedly chanted “paedo” as Wayne tried to speak on a special edition of Peter Crouch’s podcast. In apparent fallout from a prank in which he announced his “engagement” to Chloe Ferry, who is 33 years younger than Wayne, fans subjected him to shocking abuse.

Chloe later wrote: “‘Paedophile is such a strong word to call someone. It is absolutely disgusting that he is getting called that when all his friends and family have to read that about him.”

Wayne reportedly fell out with brother Gary, claiming the Match of the Day star’s then-girlfriend Danielle Bux had come between them. But Wayne is still clearly very fond of his big brother. Sharing an old photo of them together, he wrote: “Same mum same dad just different journeys.”

The Covid pandemic was, as it would be for most people in the hospitality industry, a difficult time for Wayne. In 2022, as lockdowns across Europe lifted, he told the BBC that he was looking forward to a summer free of restrictions after two “pretty terrible” years. He continued: “This year it’s full at three in the afternoon – it never used to be full until five or six. People obviously really missed that.

“That makes me sit back, smile and think ‘thank goodness we’re back’.”

And the return of tourists means the return of selfie-hunters, with a stampede of fans surging towards Wayne’s VIP table as soon as Ocean Beach opens its doors: “I compare it to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland when he comes out and everyone runs to get a picture,” he says.

“But I’m the Mickey Mouse of adult Disneyland. I literally have to plan my day around it because it’s got so intense, 500-600 pictures a day.”