Alex Scott opened up on 'secret' eight-year relationship with football legend

Alex Scott previously opened up about her ‘secret’ eight-year relationship.

The former Lionesses player is currently Down Under for this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. And that means leaving behind her girlfriend of two years, star Jess Glynne, as Scott said it’s going to be a bit of a ‘test’.

Roughly a decade before Scott found love with the ‘Hold My Hand’ singer, she had her ‘first love and heartbreak’ with a footballing legend.

The 41-year-old is a former Arsenal star, having also played for Birmingham City and Boston Breakers in the US before retiring in 2017. Nowadays, she’s a leading pundit and presenter, primarily working for the BBC as well as Sky Sports. Scott has been the presenter of Football Focus since 2021 and also occasionally hosts The One Show.

Scott and Kelly Smith in the 2011 World Cup. (Alex Livesey - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

‘Secret’ relationship with football legend

In 2022, Scott released her Sunday Times Bestseller memoir, How (Not) To Be Strong, detailing not only her sporting career but the story of her life behind the scenes.

And this included lifting the lid on her relationship with Arsenal teammate Kelly Smith.

When the I’m A Celeb star joined the team for her second stint in 2005, the pair found themselves playing together and a romance developed.

Smith is the second-highest female goalscorer for England with 46 goals and is widely considered by many as not only one of the country’s greatest ever players, but just generally, one of the GOATs.

Scott ‘fell in love’ with the forward and the pair were together for eight years, without the public officially knowing.

When her memoir was released, she told Mirror Football: “I'm writing this book and I want to tell everything. I thought I'd be cheating you all if I didn't put that in there.”

Scott explained that it was ‘like that first love story’ for her as she fell ‘madly and deeply in love’ with Smith.

She says Glynne will be her 'biggest cheerleader' during I'm A Celeb. (Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

She added: “Yes, there's that heartbreak and those things, but it's a huge part of my life and I wouldn't go back and change that. Because that feeling of love and that excitement and what it gives you, it needed to be in there."

During their relationship, the pair bought a house in Hertfordshire before they both moved to the US in 2009 to play for Boston Breakers. With the women’s league suspended in the states, they both ended up back at Arsenal and played alongside each other for GB in the 2012 Olympics. And following their split in roughly 2013, they’ve remained friends.

I’m A Celeb ‘test'

Ahead of her time in the jungle, Scott said she’s going to miss Glynne ‘cooking pasta’ for her the most.

“Those quiet moments when your life’s 100mph, just coming home… she loves to cook, and we love to sit and have a glass of wine, I’ll most probably be watching football in the background," she told The Sun.

“I’m definitely going to miss that, especially when I’m so hungry."

Knowing Glynne will be her ‘biggest cheerleader’, Scott added: “Most probably all I’m going to be thinking about is, ‘Please, can I just have Jessica’s pasta right now?’ It’s a test for both of us."