Inside Alex Scott’s inspirational life after bravely overcoming domestic abuse hell to become much-loved BBC presenter
JUST how did Alex Scott go from women’s footballer to a household name as a respected sports pundit?
With 1.8 million followers on Instagram and a penchant for split-to-the-thigh dresses, the former Arsenal player is rightly enjoying a career-defining 2023.
Ten months in and already the London-born presenter has been constantly in demand.
She flew to Australia reporting on the Women’s World Cup, Monaco for the Europa League draw and even hit up the Grammys, Baftas and Brit Awards red carpets.
She’s graced the front covers of mags such as Grazia and Stylist and in her rare downtime holidays in Ibiza.
Today, football fans know the former professional footballer as a knowledgeable pundit on BBC and Sky Sports.
The beautiful game
YET Scott made history as the first female pundit on Sky Sports Super Sunday and was the first female to commentate for the BBC at a Men’s World Cup.
She has said football – and most importantly Arsenal – is in her blood, having signed for the Gunners in 1992 at the age of eight.
Throughout her 26-year career, the 38-year-old played mostly for Arsenal in the Women’s Super League.
She has said the sport was her ticket “to get on a plane and go to China” and that football allowed her to learn things about the world.
Scott retired from the game in 2018 aged 34 after a glittering career which included playing in the squad for the 2012 London Olympics.
Life after football
IN 2016, she appeared on Bear Grylls’ ITV show, Mission Survive, which she won.
And she said it was appearing on the show that ignited “a spark” about a world outside football and being ready for the “next chapter”.
Scott had already established her media career while still playing football, appearing on programmes such as Soccer AM with other minor roles at BBC Sport, BT Sport and Sky Sports.
She also graduated with a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting from Staffordshire University while playing for Arsenal.
She wrote a weekly women’s football column in the Morning Star newspaper and a column in The Independent during the 2014 World Cup.
Today, Scott is a broadcaster with Match of the Day and Sky Sports.
Outside of sports, she has participated in the ancestry research programme Who Do You Think You Are?
In September 2019, she was a contestant on the 17th series of Strictly Come Dancing, paired with Neil Jones. The couple came fifth in the competition.
Overcoming adversity
IN 2022, Scott published her memoir “How (Not) To Be Strong” – it went on to become a Sunday Times bestseller.
She candidly revealed she was beaten with a belt and talked honestly about the fear and terror she and her mum lived in lived with her now-estranged father.
She said in an emotionally-charged interview on the BBC Women’s Hour Radio show that “all that money will go to help women”, declaring her income from the book sales would go to the women’s aid charity Refuge.
Scott revealed to Steven Bartlett on his YouTube channel “The Diary of a CEO” that she had a speech impediment growing up and sought help with speech therapy.
As a child growing up in a house where she witnessed domestic abuse, she disclosed it was easier not to speak – and that her mum didn’t know she had a problem.
She said that even today there are certain things she can’t say such as cinnamon: “I have to re-word things or memorise scripts so I know that word coming up.”
Scott also said on the Steven Bartlett podcast that as a result of falling into a daily pattern of drinking alcohol, she sought therapy.
She puts her daily drinking habit in part down to the abuse she has received from social media trolls.
Nowadays Scott keeps her private life just that – yet she does say she loves holidaying on her own and regularly jets off to Portugal to walk in nature.
Love life
WHILE she will only say she is “dating” in her memoir, she revealed that she and team-mate Kelly Smith shared a house.
The former couple were team-mates in America when they played for the Boston Breakers.
They were together from 2005 to 2013… Scott said she fell “madly and deeply in love” with Kelly.
Yet today Scott has not explicitly labelled her sexuality and has said she has been in relationships with both men and women.
Currently, Scott is in a relationship with musician Jess Glynne.
The Sun revealed the pair have been secretly dating for two months.
On Tuesday night, the couple partied alongside David and Victoria Beckham at their exclusive Netflix documentary premiere after-party at The Twenty Two in West London.
A friend said: “Alex and Jess have been a slow burn and they didn’t want to rush things or go public too soon.
“But they’re officially an item now and seem really happy. They are both strong, independent women with a shared passion and respect of their respective careers, supporting one another from the sidelines.
“It’s still early days for them, but they’ve met one another’s mates and everyone is super-happy for them.”
At the 2022 World Cup, seven European nations announced they were asking their captains not to wear the pro-LGBTQ+ One Love armband.
Scott wore the armband while reporting on the England vs Iran match on November 21 – despite the threat of sporting sanctions from Fifa.
High honours
SHE was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to football, taking her mum, grandmother and niece to her investiture at Buckingham Palace.
Scott is a brand in her own right with paid associations with major names from jewellery brand Pandora to Garnier UK.
Financial boffins are fuzzy when it comes to her net worth, citing it as somewhere between £1million and £4m.
This year she was even awarded an Honorary Fellowship for invaluable contribution to the world of sport, social purpose and inclusion by Queen Mary University of London.
We reckon we’ll be seeing a lot more of the talented and down-to-earth Scott in the future.
