Gary Lineker and the Lineker family’s move into new media

Gary Lineker’s departure from the BBC in 2025 followed his decision to repost a video that juxtaposed an image of a rat with the headline “Zionism explained in less than 2 mins”. Since then, the former England striker has moved on rapidly, with his business interests continuing to grow.

The podcast company in which Lineker owns at least a 25 per cent share generated £37.9 million in revenue last year alone.

Gary is not the only member of the Lineker family making moves in the expanding world of new media.

Wayne Lineker’s OnlyFans connection

His younger brother Wayne, 64, is a restless entrepreneur best known for owning O Beach Ibiza, one of the busiest clubs on the party island.

Rather than stepping behind a microphone, Wayne has been exploring another part of the digital media world, taking an interest in OnlyFans and the agencies that represent its content creators.

OnlyFans allows subscribers to access photographs and videos supplied by individual creators. Its creators include actors, musicians and fitness professionals, alongside those working in the platform’s lucrative “adult content” sector.

Wayne has reportedly been encouraging attractive women to join an agency specialising in representing OnlyFans creators. His spokesman has declined to identify the agency and says Wayne approached only women who were already using OnlyFans.

The commercial potential of that market is considerable. Lottie Moss, 28, the half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss, reportedly earned £30,000 a month during her time as a content creator, while some of the platform’s biggest stars make millions of pounds a year.

On the surface, the business would appear to suit Wayne’s entrepreneurial instincts. He is the father of three sons and a daughter, all now adults, although he has not publicly named all of their mothers. Gary, 65, has previously described his younger brother as someone who is “good at business”, adding: “He has always been able to turn a penny into tuppence.”

However, Wayne’s representative insists that no money changed hands in this particular arrangement.

“No payment was ever received by Wayne,” his representative says.

The spokesman also confirms that the arrangement has now ended.

The smart set’s talking about…

Harry’s friend’s former fiancée takes on the Edinburgh Fringe

The Duchess of Sussex may have left Britain behind, but another glamorous American with royal connections is finding a place for herself on this side of the Atlantic.

Former model Alessandra Ford, the ex-fiancée of Prince Harry’s close friend Arthur Landon, has made her Edinburgh Fringe debut with her one-woman comedy show, 30 And F**ed*. Every performance so far has sold out.

The 36-year-old is the daughter of Chiltern Firehouse owner Andre Balazs and Ford Models founder Katie Ford.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start,” she says.

Alessandra began her comedy career just over a year ago. Her new show draws heavily on her own experiences, including returning to her childhood bedroom at 30 after splitting from filmmaker Arthur, 44, and facing what she describes as the “absurd humiliation of starting over”.

How Johnny Depp helped Kelly Osbourne smile again

Johnny Depp has given Kelly Osbourne something to smile about after she watched the Hollywood actor pay tribute to her late father, Ozzy Osbourne.

Depp was performing with his band, the Hollywood Vampires, alongside Alice Cooper at London’s O2 Arena. Ozzy died last year aged 76.

Kelly, 41, has also faced scrutiny over her dramatic weight loss and her split from Sid Wilson, 49, the Slipknot keyboard player with whom she has a three-year-old son, Sidney.

Reflecting on the evening, Kelly says: “I have not laughed so hard with my friends in well over a year.”

Dara Huang sparks fresh engagement speculation

Dara Huang has fuelled speculation about her relationship status after posting a series of intriguing photographs online.

The 43-year-old US-born former model, who was previously engaged to Princess Beatrice’s husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, shared an image of her hand intertwined with a man’s. A large diamond ring was clearly visible on her ring finger.

“Kinda chic to still believe in love,” she wrote.

Dara, who has declined to comment, also shared a photograph of herself wearing a necklace featuring a B-shaped pendant.

The post prompted speculation that the letter could refer to film director Brett Ratner, 57, after it was previously reported in May that the pair were enjoying a blossoming friendship. Ratner, however, says it is “not true” that they are engaged.

Roxie Nafousi reflects on her past relationships

Damien Hirst’s former girlfriend Roxie Nafousi has opened up about the reasons behind some of her past relationships.

Nafousi, 36, is 25 years younger than the artist and was in a relationship with him for three years until 2015. She says that, during her years as a party girl, she often relied on successful and powerful men for validation.

“In the past, I was always as good as the men I dated,” she explains. “So if I could date someone that was successful, that had money, that was famous, then I was, like, ‘Oh, maybe that means that I’m good enough.’”

After her split from Hirst, whose fortune is estimated at more than £315 million, Roxie wrote Manifest, a bestselling self-help book about turning dreams into reality.

She says her outlook has since changed.

“Now I’m successful in my own right, I have my own financial independence, I don’t need to look for someone with those things to prove anything to me.”

Callum Turner fans prove distracting for Monica Barbaro

Monica Barbaro admits that filming her steamy new romance with Callum Turner was not always easy, thanks in part to the attention surrounding her co-star.

The 36-year-old Hollywood actress stars opposite British actor Turner, also 36, in One Night Only, a film about single people in New York who are permitted to have sex on just one night of the year.

Filming in the city presented its own challenges. Barbaro says her ADHD made it particularly easy to lose focus when paparazzi and crowds gathered around the sets.

“I have ADHD, so I would just get really distracted,” she admits.

She explains that photographers would often be shooting nearby sets, while crowds sometimes gathered during filming.

“We’d be mid-scene and someone would be, like, ‘Is that Callum Turner?’ I’m, like, ‘I’m sorry, I lost my place in the scene.’”

Turner, she says, was able to continue without being distracted and remained patient with her.

“I would just be like, ‘What? Where are we?’”

(Very) modern manners

Padel is continuing its rapid rise in popularity, with stars including Sir David Beckham and Lily James among those embracing the sport.

Now the Princess of Wales could soon have another reason to encounter it.

Padel originated in Mexico in the late 1960s and has since spread around the world. The sport is now seeking space at Hurlingham, the £1,400-a-year south-west London club covering 42 manicured acres, where Catherine takes her children for tennis lessons.

The club has applied for permission to remove one of its traditional tennis courts and a mini tennis court and replace them with two padel courts enclosed by glass and wire mesh.

Each proposed court would feature eight 20ft floodlights—something that might not necessarily appeal to everyone using the club.

Frank Skinner’s missing Walk of Fame star

Frank Skinner has expressed his disappointment after discovering that his Hollywood-style Walk of Fame star in Birmingham had been removed without warning.

The 69-year-old comedian recently returned to Broad Street with his 14-year-old son Buzz to show him the tribute he received in 2009 alongside other Birmingham heroes, including Ozzy Osbourne.

“I took my son to see my star. But now that they’ve got the trams, they had to change all the pavements, and it’s gone. It’s been torn off,” Skinner says.

He was told the stars are now being kept in underground storage.

“Apparently they’re in some underground storage, somewhere. Ozzy’s star was in the exhibition at the museum. It’s all horrible breeze blocks.”

Actress wanted to play a young Camilla

A new search is under way for an actress to portray a younger Camilla Parker Bowles in an “explosive” film exploring her early years.

The project, titled Camilla, will serve as a prequel to producer Brent Roske’s 2023 drama Diana In Love, which focused on the relationship between Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.

Roske is looking for an actress who can capture what he describes as Camilla’s wit, laugh and charm.

“It’s time we gave audiences a chance to look at this through Camilla’s eyes,” the American producer says.

He adds that she was “often the life of the party, fiercely independent, and utterly magnetic”.

“It’s time audiences see that side of the story.”