Emma Rhys-Jones

Emma Rhys-Jones came into limelight after she was spotted beside her partner, Gareth Bale, when he signed the £85million transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid in September 2013, which made him the most expensive footballer in the world. Soon after, she made news headlines with pictures of her doing the rounds of tabloids. However, she has kept a low profile on the internet and appeared on Bale’s social media feeds only occasionally. In the subsequent interviews, her friends, relatives and acquaintances asserted that she is unlikely to change under the limelight. She is not interested in the celebrity lifestyle around night clubs like most wives and girlfriends of sports stars (her grandmother, Grace Rhys-Jones, insisted that she is not a WAG, but a well rounded young woman with fiery Italian roots). Interestingly, his famous love heart celebration that he performs after scoring a goal, is dedicated to her.

Emma Rhys-Jones was born on July 29, 1991 and was raised in Llanishen, a district in north Cardiff, just a couple miles from the former council house where her future partner Bale grew up. She is the second eldest of her parents’ five children, and has an older sister Charlotte, a younger sister Katie, and younger twin brothers Robert and John. Her older sister Charlotte is the partner of Wales and British Lion rugby star Taulupe Faletau, and has a son, Israel, with him.

She first met Gareth Bale while both of them were attending Whitchurch High School in the early 2000s. They started dating soon after, and she has been beside him ever since, cheering him on the field during his matches. Since 2011, she had been living with Gareth at his luxury detached home in Chigwell, Essex, but returned to her hometown for the birth of their first daughter. She now lives in Madrid with her fiancé and their two daughters, both of whom were born before they were engaged. Their first child, Alba Violet, was born on October 21, 2012 at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. On March 22, 2016, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Nava Valentina, who was also born in Cardiff. Bale announced his engagement to Emma on July 17, 2016, a day after his 27th birthday. They are reportedly planning to tie the knot in 2018.