I’m Lions star who became rugby’s David Beckham, dated a pop star – now I pull pints at the local in Wales

Gavin Henson might be a name many remember for his time off the rugby pitch, but he was a player worthy of making headlines on it.

Regarded as the ‘David Beckham of rugby’ due to his huge profile, good looks and pop star girlfriend, the former Wales star also had wonderful accuracy with his feet.

However, that is all in the past now, as Henson has since shelved his life in the spotlight for a quieter lifestyle, running a pub in Wales.

Alongside his wife Katie, the 43-year-old can now be found pulling pints at The Fox in the Vale of Glamorgan, while the only comparison to Beckham now is the fact that he plays football over rugby.

Now a defensive midfielder for pub team Super Fox United, Henson would probably have played with a round ball had it not been for his dad, who pushed him towards rugby.

Speaking to The Times in 2023, Henson Sr joked: “He blames me, says that he could have been the Gareth Bale of his time.”

“We'd have had a bigger pub if you had," came the response.

But like Beckham or Bale, who came up with the goods for their countries, Henson did it, too.

In 2005, with the clock ticking in an attritional Six Nations clash against England, fly-half Steven Jones told Henson to take over kicking duties for a 43-metre penalty.

The Millennium Stadium crowd grew quiet as the tanned, spiky-haired youngster booted the ball perfectly between the posts, setting Wales up for a historic victory against the World Cup holders, which ultimately led to the Grand Slam.

Months later, Henson was deservedly named in the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand alongside Gareth Thomas and Brian O’Driscoll.

Joining talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs ahead of the 2025 tour of Australia, Henson was asked how he found out he was in the squad and replied: “Oh, again like everyone else on the news I think, but I was very on form, so it was a given I was going, so not too much of a surprise.

“No [I wasn’t nervous about my place], not at all, and it’s funny to watch these days, they’re all sitting down and they’re all cheering and getting nervous.

“I suppose that was what I was a bit like back in those days, a bit arrogant and everything. I thought I’d be the first name on the sheet.”

Ireland icon O’Driscoll suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first Test, opening the door for Henson to earn his sole Lions cap in the second game, but the injury curse soon followed suit.

He added: “Yeah, I got concussed actually, tried to tackle Rico Gear in the corner, hit his hip, did my shoulder, labrum, tore that and [was] concussed. But I carried on playing, I didn’t realise, I didn’t know where I was.

“Adrenaline [got me through], you know, playing for the British Lions, you know, you don’t come off easy there.

“So yeah, not a great day for myself or for the whole squad, it was a bad tour. But no, I’ve had a British Lions cap, so I’ve got to be proud of that.”

Injuries continued to take their toll on the fly-half, who could also play fullback and inside centre, and eventually, he lost the trust of his coaches for his lack of fitness, and a blossoming career fizzled out.

He told the Times: “I just struggled with my body. If I knew how to manage it a bit earlier, I'd have been a lot better for it. I am at peace with what I achieved.

"Where my weakness was — and I probably needed help on this — you look at [Cristiano] Ronaldo or [Lionel] Messi, [think] 'How do they keep on doing it?' I think they just set new goals.

"My goal was always: play for Wales, play for British Lions. When I achieved that, I didn't set a new goal.

“I felt I'd achieved what I wanted. I got to the top of the mountain, and there wasn't much up there. I then flew down it."

Henson played 33 times for Wales and has one Lions cap, but became newsworthy on both front and back pages due to his relationship with Welsh pop singer Charlotte Church, with whom he has two children.

Their whirlwind relationship ended just six weeks after their engagement was announced in 2010.

He says: "I could have been better for the game. Did it rub people up the wrong way? Maybe. The attention, or the way I was? I don't know. Are we crying out for a personality to be in the game right now? Probably, yes.

"I like watching football, see. I always watched Man United. Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, the flamboyant footballers, white boots.

"I loved the entertainers. I was driven by playing for the coach but also for the fans — I just wanted to entertain. I don't know why but that's the way I was.

"I didn't want to score tries, I didn't want the limelight like that. I preferred putting people in. I'd like to think I wasn't selfish at all.

"But they were quite an effective 33 caps, no? I did leave a stamp on the game. Some people get 50-60 games, and you can't really recall their moments.”

After being released with immediate effect at Ospreys in 2009, Henson had brief spells at Saracens, Toulon, Cardiff Blues and London Welsh.

His time in France was blighted by an alleged fight with his teammates on a night out while he was sacked from Cardiff after getting alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour on a 7am flight.

Injuries followed him from club to club, and Henson eventually hung up his boots in 2019, becoming a labourer for a while before marrying Katie Wilson Mould and becoming a landlord.

Henson said: "My friend was putting pressure on me to buy [the pub]. I was coming to the end of my career, and it had been sat here for 18 months, two years.

"It was not nice for the village and I needed something to do after rugby and to be busy, not to mourn rugby and get depressed, as they say everyone does.

"But be careful what you wish for, because this is so full-on.”