Once part of Wales’ most high-profile power couple, Charlotte Church is now stepping into the spotlight again on Celebrity Traitors.
Few rugby players have captured the public’s imagination quite like Gavin Henson, the former Wales international often compared to David Beckham for both his talent on the pitch and his high-profile life off it.
A flamboyant back, Henson was one of the most naturally gifted players of his generation, dazzling fans with his performances for Wales and numerous club sides, often single-handedly turning matches around.
Over his career, he earned 33 caps for Wales and toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2005. At club level, he represented three of the four Welsh regions the Ospreys, Dragons, and Cardiff and also played in England with Saracens, Bath, Bristol, and London Welsh, as well as in France with Toulon.
Henson enjoyed considerable success on the field, claiming two Grand Slam titles with Wales in 2005 and 2008, along with two domestic championships and the Anglo-Welsh Cup with the Ospreys. Yet, for all the headlines he earned for his rugby achievements, he was equally notorious off the pitch, often making the news for reasons far removed from the game.
Gavin Henson’s high-profile relationship with singer Charlotte Church now one of 19 celebrities appearing on the BBC’s new series of Celebrity Traitors dominated headlines throughout much of the 2000s, making them one of the most talked-about couples in British sport.
Henson later appeared on reality shows, including Strictly Come Dancing, but life has since taken a very different turn for the former rugby star, now 43. From his romance with Church to running his own pub, here’s a look at Henson’s life off the pitch.
Relationship with Charlotte Church
Gavin Henson and Charlotte Church who first rose to fame as a classical singer before transitioning to pop caused a media storm when they were first spotted together in April 2005, shortly after Church split from her previous boyfriend, Kyle Johnson.
On her BBC podcast Kicking Back With the Cardiffians, Church recounted how she sought out the rugby star after seeing him play on TV. “I remember watching Wales vs England on television, when Gavin kicked the kick over. Then that night I didn’t know Gav before that I thought, I’m going to go out and find him in town. He is nice. I went around asking everybody, ‘Do you know Gavin Henson? Where will he go out drinking afterwards?’ Nobody knew but I did find him.”
The couple moved in together the following year. In March 2007, Church announced she was pregnant with their first child, and later that year they welcomed a daughter, Ruby. Their second child, a son named Dexter, was born in January 2009.
Things seemed to be going well: Henson proposed on Church’s 24th birthday in February 2010, the same month she landed a major TV role on BBC’s Over The Rainbow. But just six weeks later, the couple announced their split after five years together.
It was later confirmed that Charlotte Church and Gavin Henson’s split was a mutual decision. Reflecting on the breakup, Church said, “When he proposed, I was overjoyed. It was amazing. I really was going to marry Gav and spend the rest of my life with him. But then he came back from Norway, and he’d changed, and I’d had time to think. We had both had a change of heart — we were of the same mind.”
Church also spoke out about the intense media intrusion she faced before and during her relationship with Henson. She revealed that her phone had been hacked by the News of the World, for which she later received an apology and substantial damages. “The press intrusion was insane. There were stories in the papers all the time, blown up, misconstrued, and made seedy when they really weren’t,” she said. “There was a lot of shame being thrown at me, with the press desperately trying to make me a figure of sin and push this ‘fallen angel’ narrative. If I had let that shame in or internalised it, my life could have gone in a very different way.”
Today, Henson and Church maintain a good relationship and co-parent their son, Dexter, while both have found love again. The former rugby star married long-term partner Katie Wilson Mould in 2019, and Church tied the knot with musician Jonathan Powell in 2017, having asked Henson for his blessing before they started dating.
New life as pub landlord
These days, Gavin Henson has cut down on his drinking and can often be found behind the bar, having become the landlord of The Fox & Hounds pub in St Brides Major, Vale of Glamorgan, in 2019.
After carrying out a major refurbishment and upgrading the restaurant, the former Wales international shortened the pub’s name to The Fox and now runs it alongside his wife, Katie.
Speaking to The Times about the venture, Henson said: “I was coming to the end of my career, and the pub had been sitting here for 18 months, two years. It wasn’t ideal for the village, and I needed something to do after rugby to stay busy, rather than mourn rugby and get depressed, as they say everyone does.
“But be careful what you wish for, because running this pub is so full-on. We want to feel like we’ve achieved something with it. We’re perfectionists it’s all about the detail.”
Gavin Henson who is believed to have a net worth of around £800,000, after once earning roughly £120,000 a year at the peak of his rugby career has recently returned to the pitch.
In September last year, he rejoined his boyhood club, Pencoed, and is now in his second season competing in League 2 West Central, the fourth tier of Welsh rugby.
Speaking to BBC Scrum V, Henson admitted he is “loving” being back in the game. “I’m 43 now, so a bit old, as my wife tells me,” he said. “But I’ve missed it the physicality, being in a team environment again, and striving to win.”
“I’m very competitive, I like trying to win, that’s the main thing. We have a good group of boys. We’re aiming for promotion, so hopefully it will be a good season and great for the club.
“I’m playing 10, I would like to play 12 but I am just not quite big enough yet. So I’ll still try to aim to get there but 10 at the moment.”