Emma Rhys-Jones: Gareth Bale's Wife, Wedding, Children
Emma Rhys-Jones has been married to Gareth Bale since June 2019. Their story from school days to the Mallorca wedding, plus Bale's career since retiring.
Emma Rhys-Jones is the wife of Gareth Bale, who scored 41 goals in 111 games for Wales and won the Champions League five times with Real Madrid. The couple, who are reported to have met as teenagers in Cardiff, got engaged in July 2016 and married in Mallorca in June 2019. Bale announced his retirement from football on 9 January 2023, and as far as is publicly known the family has stayed out of the spotlight since.
Who is Emma Rhys-Jones?
Emma Rhys-Jones is a Welsh woman from Cardiff and the long-term partner, now wife, of Gareth Bale. She is not a media personality: she has no public career that we could confirm from reputable sources. We could not find an interview she has given, so almost everything known about her comes from reports on Bale's life and from his own posts.
Several outlets say the two met at school in Cardiff. NBC reported in November 2022 that they started dating while at Whitchurch High School, in a northern suburb of Cardiff, the school Bale attended according to English Wikipedia. English Wikipedia describes her as Bale's high-school sweetheart, without saying where or when they met. For a footballer who moved from Southampton to Tottenham as a teenager, then to Real Madrid, it is a long relationship by any standard.
Emma Rhys-Jones: age, origin and quick facts
- Nationality and origin: Welsh, from Cardiff.
- Age and birthday: her date of birth has not been published by a reliable outlet, so we do not give one. Many sites quote a birthday; none we found sources it.
- Husband: Gareth Bale, married June 2019.
- Job: no confirmed profession. Older WAG blogs mention hairdressing, but we could not verify it, so we leave it out.
- Social media: we could not find a public Instagram account in her name. Bale's own account, @garethbale11, is the main place the couple appear.
- Net worth: no figure for her has been published by a reliable source. For his finances, see our article on Gareth Bale's net worth.
Gareth Bale and Emma: the relationship timeline
- Early 2000s: the couple are reported to have met as schoolchildren in Cardiff.
- October 2012: their first child is born in Cardiff, according to English Wikipedia.
- March 2016: their second child is born in Cardiff (English Wikipedia).
- 17 July 2016: Bale announces the engagement. His Instagram post, shown below, carries the caption "She said yes!!" and speaks of a birthday weekend with close family and friends. Bale turned 27 that month.
- March 2018: a third child is announced, born in May 2018.
- June 2019: the wedding (details below).
- April 2020: Bale and Emma donate £1 million to health boards in Wales and Spain for Covid-19 relief, according to English Wikipedia.\n- July 2021: their fourth child, a son, is born, according to ¡Hola! (January 2023).
When did Gareth Bale marry Emma Rhys-Jones?
They married in June 2019 in Mallorca, after an engagement of almost three years. Diario de Mallorca, as relayed by SeeMallorca, reported the ceremony on 20 June 2019 at Sa Fortalesa, a private estate in the bay of Port de Pollença, as part of a celebration that lasted three days. Only family and close friends attended, and the couple kept the event away from the cameras. The Spanish magazine ¡Hola! wrote at the time that the wedding followed several failed attempts to marry, without giving details we could verify.
Do Gareth Bale and Emma Rhys-Jones have children?
Yes. The couple have four children, two daughters and two sons, born in October 2012, March 2016, May 2018 and July 2021, according to English Wikipedia (the first three) and ¡Hola! (January 2023). We do not list their names or exact birth dates here: the family has kept their children largely out of public view, and we think that deserves respect.
Who is Gareth Bale? Career timeline
Gareth Bale was born in Cardiff on 16 July 1989, which makes him 37 as of November 2026. He began his professional career at Southampton before moving to Tottenham and then Real Madrid.
- 2006 to 2007: Southampton, 40 appearances and 5 goals. He also made his Wales debut in 2006.
- 2007 to 2013: Tottenham Hotspur, 146 appearances and 42 goals, after a fee of £5m rising to a reported £10m. He won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award in 2011 and 2013.
- 2013 to 2022: Real Madrid, 176 appearances and 81 goals. The fee was reported at €100.8m (£85.1m) by leaked documents.
- 2014 to 2022: with Madrid he won the Champions League five times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022), La Liga three times (2016-17, 2019-20, 2021-22), the Copa del Rey in 2014, and the Club World Cup three times.
- 2020 to 2021: loan back at Tottenham, 20 appearances and 11 goals.
- 2022 to 2023: Los Angeles FC, 12 appearances and 2 goals, and an MLS Cup in 2022.
- 9 January 2023: retires from football.
For Wales he made 111 appearances and scored 41 goals between 2006 and 2022, and was named Welsh Footballer of the Year a record six times. He was appointed MBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours. Club figures are league appearances and goals; all figures are from English Wikipedia as of November 2026.
What is Gareth Bale doing in 2026?
Golf has been his main public activity since he stopped playing. He plays off a handicap of 0.1, as of October 2025 per English Wikipedia, and took part in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2023. In December 2025 he said his father's illness had influenced his decision to retire.
He has also made headlines as a would-be club owner. In June and July 2025 he confirmed that a consortium he is part of had made offers to buy his boyhood club Cardiff City from owner Vincent Tan, a first bid reported at £40m that was rejected and a second one, which Bale described as "very fair, if not more than fair" (Football365, 11 July 2025). We did not find a later report saying a deal was agreed, so as of November 2026 we cannot confirm a change of ownership.
If you want more on his Wales teammates, see Emily Caplan, Ben Davies's wife.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gareth Bale married?
Yes. He married Emma Rhys-Jones in Mallorca in June 2019, after getting engaged in July 2016.
Who is Gareth Bale's wife?
Emma Rhys-Jones, from Cardiff. They are reported to have met at school.
How old is Emma Rhys-Jones?
Her date of birth has not been published by a reliable outlet, so we cannot give her age. Bale was born on 16 July 1989.
What is Emma Rhys-Jones' ethnicity?
She is Welsh. We found no reliable source on any wider family background, and we do not speculate.
Does Emma Rhys-Jones have Instagram?
We could not find a public account in her name. The couple's life shows up on Bale's own account.
Does Gareth Bale have children?
Yes, four, born in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021.
Did Gareth Bale retire?
Yes. He announced his retirement on 9 January 2023, after a season with Los Angeles FC.
