Gary Lineker has opened up about the terrifying moment his son George was diagnosed with myeloid leukaemia and told he had hours to live at just eight weeks old.
The 64-year-old sports pundit, known for hosting Match of the Day, welcomed George, now 33, with his ex-wife Michelle Cockayne, who he married in 1986 and divorced two decades later.
Lineker was quizzed about his son’s illness on the ITV series, The Assembly, in which a group of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people interview celebrities – with no topic off limits.
When asked how he felt following George’s diagnosis by one of the group, the presenter became emotional and replied: “That was really tough. I think it changes you.
“He was only two months old and we got told that he had leukemia. He wasn’t given much [of a] chance. He was really awful,” Lineker said.
Doctors told the former England footballer and his then-wife that babies of George’s age with myeloid leukaemia generally have between a 10 and 20 percent survival rate.
However, George beat the cancer and was able to leave Great Ormond Street hospital three months before his first birthday.
“We were in hospital, really, for about seven months,” recalled Lineker.
“But we were the lucky ones and there were parents in there that lost their kids, so we felt actually quite fortunate in the end. But it was really scary.”
He continued: “You deal with things in different ways when you go through something like that. I felt I needed to talk about it to deal with it and Michelle – she would bottle things up.”
Lineker added: “But, ultimately, we got a good ending. We were lucky.” Cockayne and the former England captain went on to have three more sons: Harry, 30, Tobias, 29, and Angus, 27.
Following his divorce in 2006, Lineker married the model Danielle Bux, 45, three years later.
Bux and Lineker announced their separation in 2016, with reports claiming their split revolved around different opinions on starting a family. He has not publicly had a relationship since.
The presenter, who will depart from the BBC after fronting its coverage of the 2026 World Cup, said he has no interest in dating again after he leaves Match of the Day.
“I'm so happy on my own. I've got lots of friends I go out with and have dinner and have fun. I'm alright,” he said on The Rest Is Football podcast last month. “I've been married most of my adult life and I'm quite set in my ways and comfortable on my own now.”
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