Lizzie Cundy: ‘Don’t call me a WAG anymore’

There was a time, not so long ago, when Lizzie Cundy was regarded as little more than a glamorous accessory for her then famous footballer husband Jason.

She was one of the original WAGs — wives and girlfriends of Premier League footballers — whose elaborate grooming, surgical enhancements and excessive spending were carefully crafted to attract media attention.

Tanned, slender and always primped, with long glossy hair and perfect nails, Cundy fitted the mould perfectly. She worked hard at looking good and devoted herself to her home, her husband and their two sons.

“I was told I was nothing without Jason, just a pretty bimbo,” she says. “Now, he’s being referred to as Lizzie Cundy’s ex-husband. It’s not a competition but I bet he doesn’t like that.”

One senses that, secretly, she hopes it grates more than a little with her ex. For Jason walked out on Cundy and their two sons Josh, now 18, and James, 13, in 2010 to be with mezzo-soprano Hannah Pedley, who has appeared in Royal Opera House shows and recorded an album of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Despite the fact the marriage had been tempestuous, largely due to her husband’s “dark moods”, a devastated Cundy took to her bed weeping.

But eventually she picked herself up and began reinventing herself, working hard to forge a career as a television presenter — specialising in fashion and celebrity interviews.

Earlier this year, at 45, she made her West End acting debut, starring in the satirical musical WAG, to great critical acclaim. She has two film roles lined up, more television appearances in the pipeline and plans to work in America.

Perhaps the only jarring note in her otherwise upbeat life is that when her 18-year marriage officially ended in divorce recently, it was the former WAG who had to pay her errant ex-husband a “substantial” financial settlement.

“I think I married the wrong footballer,” she says without malice. “Instead of him having to pay for leaving me and the boys virtually penniless, I’m the one who will have to give him money. He is still a presenter on the radio channel talkSPORT but claims to be broke.”

“It’s liberating because I feel it’s now my time to show what I can do,” she says. “I have a good brain, whatever people think when they see me dressed up.”

Convent-educated Cundy is hardly a typical WAG. Her late father, Derek Miller, was art director at the Saatchi advertising agency while her mother was a senior manager for fashion house Jaeger.

She was expected to go to university but decided to become a model after being spotted by the great fashion photographer Norman Parkinson. By the time she met and married Jason, a working-class boy from South London, 19-year-old Cundy had modelled for Cosmopolitan and Vogue. She had aspirations to become an actress but quickly shelved them for life with Jason.

He was at Chelsea’s football academy and went on to play for Tottenham and Ipswich. Cundy turned down primetime television jobs with Blue Peter and as Bruce Forsyth’s sidekick on Play Your Cards Right, to start a family. Jason, she says, did not want her to work full time.

But plagued by injuries and two bouts of testicular cancer, during which Cundy nursed him back to health, Jason retired in 2002 and became a radio presenter. By the time they parted three years ago, Cundy was already a recognised face on the red carpet.

“Jason decided he wanted to have a life elsewhere and left me with two children to bring up,” she says. “I’ve had to work really hard to make sure they have the lifestyle they are used to. That’s been my motivation.

“I could have crumpled and gone to pieces — in fact, I did for a while — but I had two boys to support. Keeping a roof over our heads and putting food on the table became my priority.”

Despite being devastated at the time, she argues it was the best thing that could have happened. “I’ve never been happier. It’s made me stronger and more independent. I’m a grafter; I have a lot of energy and don’t need more than four hours sleep. But I never thought I would ever have to earn my own living.”

In the heydays of Jason’s career, she was totally dependent on him. It was, she accepts, a privileged life. There was the obligatory mansion in leafy Hampshire, expensive cars, exotic holidays and closets stuffed with designer clothes.

“Back then, WAGs were not expected to be more the arm candy. But Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and myself broke the mould by working and making a name for ourselves.”

Cundy was at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where the England squad’s WAGs gained more publicity — not all of it positive — than the team.

The manager blamed them for the less than stellar performances on the pitch. Four years later, she was a special guest presenter for ITV’s Daybreak programme during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Those who know her well say she is genuinely kind and loyal and possesses a “wicked” sense of humour. These are some of the qualities that led to her becoming known as the WAG-ony aunt.

“The other wives and girlfriends would come to me with their problems, because they knew I’d been through it all before,” she says. “They still do because they know I’m honest and discreet.

“Adultery has been a big issue. There is a lot of temptation for high-profile players. When I first started seeing Jason, girls would send him pictures of themselves naked. You have to have a strong relationship to trust your partner not to stray.” She ended up with an advice column in a well-known glossy magazine.

These days, however, Cundy wants to be taken seriously as a presenter and actress. “The musical WAG was a huge risk because I felt a lot of people expected me to fail,” she says.

In the end, the production ran for eight weeks and the theatre was packed every night. It was, she says, such a triumph that John Travolta has bought the movie rights.

“It’s going to be a cross between Grease, Glee and The Full Monty. The finances are in place and I’ve been told I will keep my stage role.”

But before that she is looking forward to interviewing actor Sylvester Stallone before an audience at the London Palladium later this year. And she is starring in a movie with Al Pacino, called Isle Of Dog.

She has had to prove herself many times over because, she says, people believe if a woman cares about her looks, she must be an airhead. “People constantly underestimate me. Because I’m more than a WAG.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate being called one. After all, The tag has certainly helped to make me who I am today, but I’m no more married to a footballer so I think it’s time to bench it.”

— Daily Mail