Entertainment

'I was in love with Bobby Moore for 10 years after divorce,' says ex-wife Tina

The former wife of late England footballer Bobby Moore has revealed she stayed in love with her ex-husband for at least 10 years after his affair led to their divorce.

But Tina Moore admitted she was not “overly impressed” when she first met him as a teenager.

Her comments came as ITV airs new series Tina and Bobby, dramatising the couple’s relationship, which saw them marry in 1962 and separate 22 years later when she discovered he was seeing another woman. Tina will be played by Our Girl star Michelle Keegan.

She told the Radio Times: “I was flabbergasted. The separation was horrendous.

The full family of four attend a premiere in 1981 (PA)

“I was so unhappy. So, once my children were grown, I moved to Miami. But it was ten years before I stopped being in love with him.”

She revealed that she always cared for Moore, who died in 1993 following a battle with bowel cancer, aged 51.

In her recently re-published memoirs, Bobby Moore by the Person Who Knew Him Best, she speaks of how the sports star, who captained the England team to World Cup victory in 1966, spiralled into depression after his retirement from football left him with little work and debt problems.

Fondly remembering their first meeting in 1958, when she was 15 and he was 17, she told the magazine: “I wasn’t overly impressed at first.

“He wasn’t quite handsome, but he was good-looking, and charm personified. He never changed – always protective of myself and the children.”

After meeting him by chance on the London Underground in 1989, Tina said: “I’m not in love with Bobby now – it’s all such a long while ago. But I never stopped caring for him.

This week’s Radio Times (Radio Times/PA)

“I was super-selective about men after him and now I’ve been with (current partner) Steve for ten years.

“He understands me and why I talk publicly of Bobby with great love.”

Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times.