Emma Hadfield: Gary Neville's Wife, Age, Children, Work

Emma Hadfield, known today as Emma Neville, is the wife of Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England right-back who, as of November 2026, is a Sky Sports pundit, a co-owner of Salford City and a property developer. The couple met in 2004, married at Manchester Cathedral on 16 June 2007 and have two daughters, and no separation has been reported.

Emma is more than "the footballer's wife" of the old headlines. She is a trained counsellor and an accredited menopause coach, and in October 2023 she launched This Is Me, an online community for women going through perimenopause and menopause, after she was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency at 40. In this guide, OhMyFootball sets out what is documented about Emma Hadfield, from her own interviews and from reliable media, and corrects several claims that are copied from site to site.

Who is Gary Neville's wife?

Gary Neville's wife is Emma Neville, born Emma Hadfield. Hadfield is her maiden name, and it is still the name most people search for, but she uses Emma Neville in her work and on social media.

They have been married since June 2007. As far as is publicly known, the marriage is going strong: the couple have given several joint interviews in recent years, on Gabby Logan's podcast The Mid•Point in January 2024, on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place in September 2024 and on a special 50th birthday episode of Stick to Football in February 2025. We found no report from a reputable outlet of a separation or a divorce.

Gary Neville and his wife Emma posing cheek to cheek in a dimly lit room

How did Gary Neville and Emma Hadfield meet?

According to Goal, the pair first met on a night out in 2004. Gary told the full story on Stick to Football in February 2025: after a game, he and Ryan Giggs called into Sugar Lounge, a bar in Manchester, for what he described as two beers to relax the muscles. He spotted Emma in the middle of the room, but he did not go over to her himself. A friend of Emma's ended up passing the message on, and Emma came over.

By both their accounts, it was not a great first conversation. Gary admitted he was not at his best that night, and Emma said she was enjoying a free year of meeting people and was not looking for a relationship. It took a couple of dates, she said, before she decided he was "not bad".

Emma was 23 when they met. On the same show she told Ian Wright that entering the world of a Manchester United player was "a shock to your system", but that "Gary was really grounded, and his family were also very grounded", as Goal reported. Their social life was mostly meals out, and she joked that his early bedtime, around half past nine, took some getting used to.

The video below is the full 50th birthday episode of Stick to Football, posted by The Overlap. Gary sits with Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott, and Emma joins them as a guest from about the 28th minute; Gary's mum Jill follows. The proposal story starts at around 47 minutes.

The proposal in Gozo and the 2007 wedding

Gary proposed on Gozo, the small island next to Malta, according to his account on Stick to Football. He said he took Emma to an old hotel there, where a long table had been laid for two, with music and all her favourite food, and that he had asked her father for permission the week before they left. He also owned up to dropping the ring, which he had hidden in the cuff of his shirt. Emma said yes. Malta was their regular holiday spot for years, Emma said on the same show, before they started going further afield; these days they love skiing.

They married on Saturday 16 June 2007 at Manchester Cathedral. HELLO! magazine reported that the guests were led by Gary's Manchester United team-mates Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes (read about Scholes's estranged wife, Claire Froggatt), and that Wayne Rooney came with his then fiancée Coleen McLoughlin. The notable absentee was David Beckham, who had a game with Real Madrid. Gary had been best man at Beckham's 1999 wedding to Victoria Beckham.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds were showered with cream rose petals and cheered by the crowd outside the cathedral, HELLO! wrote.

The 2004 Sun story and her libel win

In 2004 Emma's name made the national news over a story The Sun later apologised for. In August 2004, The Sun published claims that she had been unfaithful to Gary while he was away with England at Euro 2004 in Portugal. She asked for an apology and, when none came, she sued.

In May 2005, at the High Court in London, Emma accepted substantial libel damages from News Group Newspapers, The Sun's publisher, which also agreed to publish a prominent apology, the Irish Examiner reported. Her solicitor, Rachel Atkins, told the court the allegations were "completely false and indefensible". The couple were not yet married at the time, so the claim, repeated on many websites, that this happened during their marriage is wrong on the dates too.

Emma Hadfield's age and birthday

How old is Emma Hadfield? Her exact date of birth has not been confirmed by a reliable source. Many websites give 18 March 1980, but we could not verify it.

What is documented: Emma said on Stick to Football that she was 23 when they met in 2004, and HELLO! gave her age as 44 in April 2024. Taken together, the two figures point to a birth in early 1980, which would make Emma 46 in late 2026, roughly five years younger than Gary. He was born on 18 February 1975 and turned 51 in February 2026.

Where is Emma Hadfield from?

Emma is English and grew up in Greater Manchester. On The Overlap's Not Just Football podcast in January 2025, she said she lived in the Middleton area and was a huge Oldham Athletic fan, with a season ticket for four seasons. On Stick to Football she added that she went with her dad. Andy Ritchie was her favourite player.

So she knows the other side of Manchester United too. Emma remembers going to Wembley when Oldham played United, and crying all the way home on the coach after Mark Hughes scored "that bloody goal". That can only have been Hughes's last-minute equaliser in the 1994 FA Cup semi-final, which United went on to win in a replay.

Emma Hadfield's education and career

Older profiles describe Emma as a former shop assistant who studied at Middleton College. We could not find a reliable source for either claim. What she has said herself, in an interview with OX Magazine, is that before she got married she earned certificates in reflexology, body massage and Indian head massage, which is where the "holistic therapy" label comes from.

For years her focus was raising their two daughters, alongside charity work. She did five years of voluntary work at the Bury Cancer Centre while she was training, OX Magazine reported. Emma has said she knew in her twenties that she wanted to be a counsellor, but chose to train in her thirties, once the girls were a little more independent, and she is glad she waited because of the life experience it gave her. She qualified as a person-centred counsellor.

Emma Neville speaking at a lectern with a microphone at an evening event

Emma Neville, menopause coach: the story of This Is Me

Around 2019, while she was studying to become a counsellor, Emma began to struggle with brain fog, tearfulness, aching joints and poor sleep. At 39, a specialist told her she was "seriously menopausal", she told HELLO!, and at 40 she was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). She has described the experience as a kind of "mini-bereavement", and on Not Just Football she said that while she was struggling with her studies, it was one of the few times in her life she leaned on Gary and asked for help.

After researching the subject, she completed an online menopause coaching certificate run by Adele Johnston, the Menopause Coach, and became an accredited menopause coach. She launched This Is Me on World Menopause Day, 18 October 2023, as an online space for women to talk openly about perimenopause and menopause.

Since then she has become a regular voice on women's health in the North West:

Women's Health Ambassador at UA92, the Manchester university project co-founded by the Class of 92, where she talks to students about topics from menopause to endometriosis
a talk on menopause at the University of Salford in October 2024
community workshops, and panels for brands such as ESPA, as reported by HELLO!
in October 2026, a celebration of This Is Me's third birthday and World Menopause Day, with This Is Me Awards, a silent disco and a talk from former Lioness Jill Scott, which Emma shared on her Instagram

She has talked about her story in several interviews: with HELLO! and OX Magazine, on The Mid•Point and Happy Place with Gary, and on Not Just Football alongside Nicola Carragher, whose own story you can read in our profile of Nicola Hart, Jamie Carragher's wife.

Emma Hadfield and Gary Neville's children

Emma and Gary have two daughters. LADbible named them as Molly and Sophie, aged 15 and 14, in January 2024, in a report on Gary's interview on The Mid•Point, and Molly is also mentioned by name in the couple's Happy Place interview. The exact birth dates that circulate online have not been confirmed by a reliable source, and the family keeps the girls' lives private.

On The Mid•Point, Gary admitted that his teenage daughters find him embarrassing in public. "No part of them wants any interaction with me publicly," he said, as LADbible reported. Emma has said that her diagnosis made her feel grateful that she was able to have her two girls, and that she wants them to be proud of what she is doing.

Emma Neville sitting on old stone steps with two young girls

Who is Gary Neville? His career and life in 2026

Gary Neville was born on 18 February 1975 in Bury, Greater Manchester. He comes from a sporting family: his brother Phil also played for Manchester United and England, his sister Tracey is a former England netball international and coach, and his father, Neville Neville, played cricket.

A one-club man, Gary came through the Manchester United academy as part of the Class of 92 and won 20 trophies with the club, including eight Premier League titles and two Champions League titles. He was club captain from 2005 until he retired. His career at a glance:

16 September 1992: first-team debut for Manchester United, against Torpedo Moscow in the UEFA Cup
1995 to 2007: 85 caps for England
2 February 2011: announces his retirement as a player
2011: joins Sky Sports as a pundit
2012 to 2016: England assistant coach under Roy Hodgson
December 2015 to March 2016: head coach of Valencia, before returning to Sky
2014: buys Salford City with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville
2022: joins the Labour Party
May 2025: a new ownership group led by David Beckham and Gary Neville takes over Salford City; the other Class of 92 members sell their shares but keep roles at the club
2025: inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame
January 2026: Global, the owner of LBC and Capital, buys a majority stake in The Overlap, the media brand Gary founded; he co-chairs the company with Global's chief executive
May 2026: Sky News reports that his name has been discussed within Labour as a possible candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester; he does not stand, and Labour's Bev Craig wins the by-election in July 2026

As of November 2026, Gary is still one of Sky Sports' leading voices: on 1 November 2026 he was discussing Manchester United's poor run of form for Sky. He hosts Stick to Football on The Overlap, and Relentless Developments, the property company he co-founded with Anthony Kilbride, has asked Manchester City Council for a scoping opinion on two towers of up to 35 and 46 storeys in St Mary's Parsonage, near the River Irwell, Place North West reported in October 2026. With Ryan Giggs, he also set up Hotel Football, next to Old Trafford.

Emma has joked about how busy he is: on Not Just Football she described their life as run by itinerary, and on Happy Place the couple said Gary even books their date nights with a calendar invite.

Emma Hadfield's net worth

Emma Hadfield's personal net worth is not publicly known. The figure of $5 million found on many websites has no reliable source, so we do not repeat it as fact.

Gary Neville's wealth comes from his playing career, his Sky Sports work, The Overlap, Salford City and his property business. Celebrity Net Worth lists his net worth at $25 million, although its own biography text gives a higher figure, and it reports that he earns over £1 million a year from his Sky Sports contract. None of these figures has been confirmed by Gary.

Emma Hadfield on Instagram

Older articles claim that Emma does not use Instagram. That is no longer true. She is on Instagram as @emmanevillethisisme, where she had about 46,000 followers in November 2026, and the account is mostly about menopause, women's health and the This Is Me community rather than her family life. Gary is on Instagram as @gneville2, with about 2.2 million followers.

Quick facts about Emma Hadfield

Full name: Emma Neville, born Emma Hadfield
Husband: Gary Neville, Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United captain
Married: 16 June 2007, Manchester Cathedral
Met: 2004, in a Manchester bar
Age: about 46 in late 2026 (exact birth date not confirmed)
From: the Middleton area of Greater Manchester, England
Children: two daughters, named in the press as Molly and Sophie
Job: person-centred counsellor, accredited menopause coach, founder of This Is Me
Instagram: @emmanevillethisisme

Frequently asked questions about Emma Hadfield

How old is Emma Hadfield?

Her exact date of birth is not confirmed. She said she was 23 when she met Gary in 2004, and HELLO! gave her age as 44 in April 2024, so she is about 46 in late 2026.

Are Gary Neville and Emma Hadfield still married?

Yes, as far as is publicly known. They married in June 2007, have appeared together in interviews as recently as 2025, and no separation has been reported.

Does Emma Hadfield have a Wikipedia page?

No. There is no Wikipedia article about Emma herself. Gary Neville's English Wikipedia page mentions that he married Emma Hadfield on 16 June 2007 and that they have two daughters.

What is Emma Hadfield's net worth?

It is not publicly known. Figures online are guesses. Her husband Gary Neville is estimated by Celebrity Net Worth at $25 million.

What does Emma Hadfield do for a living?

She is a trained counsellor and an accredited menopause coach, and she founded This Is Me, an online menopause community, in October 2023. She has also been Women's Health Ambassador at UA92.