Abbey Clancy found herself asking where husband Peter Crouch was going after he began to creep off to his “new love” early in the mornings. Abbey says she would wake up and find Peter was “nowhere to be seen” during a recent getaway.
The model says it later transpired that the former Premier League footballer had found himself a new hobby. She says Peter, 44, booked himself onto tennis lessons after taking their 14-year-old daughter Sophia to learn the sport.
Peter, who has recently also taken up padel, admits he has now “caught the bug” having played the sport as a youngster. It comes just weeks after Abbey, 39, Peter and Sophia were spotted enjoying a day at Wimbledon.
On the couple’s The Therapy Crouch podcast, Abbey said: “Pete’s found a new love. So everyday on holiday, I’d wake up, Pete nowhere to be seen. I’d be like, ‘Where the f**k has he been going?’
“He’d been booking himself tennis lessons. Tennis lessons, taking Sophia, who is doing the lessons anyway with her coach and Pete’s booked himself in. And he’s also joined a tennis club here, at home, and he’s in a tennis competition and a tennis team.”
Peter replied: “You know what’s happened? I’ve got the bug massively. I was taking Sophia and said, ‘Do you know what, I’m going to start taking lessons.’ I got a lesson and then got the bug, and saw myself getting better.”
Peter, who scored 22 goals in 42 England caps, says he “could play” tennis as a youngster but found himself pursuing professional football. He says his summers as a child would consist of “football, tennis, football, tennis”.
He explained: “I could play when I was a kid but I didn’t pick up a racquet for 20 years. But my summers consisted of a ball and tennis racquet and when we got slightly tired of football we’d go and play tennis.
“For six weeks, football, tennis, football, tennis, and by the end of that you get alright. So I was decent as a kid.”
Abbey however says Peter was “playing down” his abilities on court and said he had to make a “crucial decision” between the two sports. Peter added: “It was something that I never revisited so I’m trying to get back on the horse.”
During his professional career, Peter played more than 700 professional games representing clubs such as Liverpool, Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Portsmouth. He retired professionally in 2019.
Mum-of-four Abbey, who married Peter in 2011, concluded she is “really happy” he has found a new hobby. She added: “He’s happy, he’s keeping fit, he’s keeping moving.”
Abbey and Peter met in a bar in Liverpool in 2005. During a chat on Good Morning Britain, Abbey recalled their initial meeting: “When we first met, he begged me for my number and then I went to the loo or the bar, and when I came back, he was talking to another girl. I was like, ‘How dare you?'”
Peter insisted he was “just talking” to the other woman, though Abbey demanded her number back.
He responded: “I said, ‘You can’t give someone your number and then take it back’.”
Despite this early hiccup, romance flourished between the pair and they exchanged vows on June 30, 2011. According to OK!, the family now reside in a “magical” mansion featuring its own cinema room and expansive garden.