Wife of Welsh football star Gareth Bale, Emma Rhys-Jones, is sure to be amongst the WAGs cheering on their partners in Qatar as Wales tries to secure World Cup glory.
The childhood sweethearts have been together for over a decade, after they began dating in the early 2000s while attending Whitchurch High School.
Back in 2013, Bale confessed that the famous heart sign he makes after scoring a goal is for Emma.
He sweetly admitted: “I hadn’t been playing for a while and I was with my girlfriend and she asked what I would do if I scored. I told her I would make the ‘heart’ sign but I wasn’t sure when it would happen. When I eventually scored I did it and my girlfriend thought it was great.”
The footballer popped the question in July 2016, announcing on Twitter: “She said yes!! This is a birthday weekend I won’t forget for a long time.”
Gareth Bale and Emma Rhys-Jones on scooters with their children in Madrid, Spain
(Image: Photo by Europa Press Entertainment/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The pair got married in 2019, on the same private island where the former Real Madrid star proposed to Emma back in 2016.
The small island of Tagomago near Ibiza reportedly costs £130,000 a week. The ceremony involved just 60 guests, although much of the bride’s family were not invited.
It’s reported the ceremony was so private the guests were only notified of the location 24 hours before and had to hand over their mobile phones to guards.
Ex-SAS were hired to protect the event, a decision taken after Emma’s family were caught up in a drugs feud in Cardiff .
The couple had planned to wed a year prior but were forced to postpone after a “rollercoaster” year, including an arson attack on two cars at her aunt’s home in flint.
Despite the struggles they have faced, a school friend of the couple previously revealed to the Express how the pair remain so down to Earth.
Gareth Bale and Emma Rhys-Jones have been together for over a decade
(Image: 2015 Karwai Tang)
Gareth Bale of Real Madrid celebrates with Emma Rhys-jones and their daughter Nava Valentina after Real Madrid won the Uefa Champions League final
(Image: Photo by Daniele Mascolo/Ansa/REX/Shutterstock (8388240o))
“You don’t see them around town,” they said. “They like their nights in with a takeaway and a good DVD.”
Another pal added to the Daily Mail: “Gareth is a homebird and Emma’s the same – they like a quiet life and their family is the most important thing to them.
“Emma is from a big family – they are close and supportive, she doesn’t like being too far away from them.”
Gareth and Emma share four children, Alba Violet, 10, Nava Valentina, 6, Axel, 4, and Xander, 2.
Gareth started his football career at Southampton before moving to Tottenham.
In 2013 he signed a six year deal with Real Madrid where he went on to win some of football’s biggest trophies including the Champions League five times. He currently plays for LAFC in the United States as well as for Wales.
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