{"id":237400,"date":"2023-09-30T12:08:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T12:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=237400"},"modified":"2023-09-30T12:08:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T12:08:14","slug":"susannah-butter-meets-rising-power-couple-stuart-broad-and-mollie-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/susannah-butter-meets-rising-power-couple-stuart-broad-and-mollie-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Susannah Butter meets rising power couple Stuart Broad and Mollie King"},"content":{"rendered":"
They\u2019re five years into their relationship, with a new dream house and a nine-month-old baby, Annabella, as well as a wedding on the way. Yet it feels as though Stuart Broad and Mollie King are still very much in the honeymoon period.<\/p>\n
The England cricket legend and the pop star-turned-BBC Radio 1 presenter sit side by side on a sofa in an East London\u00a0photo studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Broad laughs as he recounts the time King insisted they rent\u00a0e-bikes on the way back from a Beyonc\u00e9 concert, weaving through the crowds, and how competitive she is when they play Scrabble, while King teases him about his new-found singing voice: \u2018I\u2019ve heard you on the baby monitor singing nursery rhymes. You get all the lyrics wrong but the melody\u2019s there.\u2019<\/p>\n
With Broad having retired from cricket in July, after the last day of the last Ashes test against the old enemy Australia (he prefers to call it \u2018a change of career; I\u2019m only 37\u2019), they face the longest time spent together without being separated by cricket tours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve just moved into a new home in Southwest London. Frankly, they\u2019ve never been more in demand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mollie King, 36, and Stuart Broad, 37 have been together five years and have a nine-month-old baby, Anabella\u00a0<\/p>\n
Broady and Mollie (Brollie?) are a power couple just coming into their pomp. The Sun hailed them as the \u2018Posh and Becks of cricket\u2019 this summer.\u00a0They bat away comparisons and remain tight-lipped on plans for any joint podcasts or fly-on-the-wall documentaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, King, 36, has quietly signed up to Satellite414, the same agency who represent Beyonc\u00e9 and\u00a0Adele.<\/p>\n
\u2018Being able to spend more time with each other would be really exciting,\u2019 King says about working together, \u2018if the right project came our way.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were recently photographed together for a London Fashion Week party for Pepe Jeans and although their reported \u00a321 million fortune may be well below the Beckhams\u2019 combined \u00a3425 million, every Mr & Mrs Megabrand starts somewhere.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s exciting to see if Stuart Broad, who after all is a bona fide sports legend too, and former Saturdays star Mollie King can emulate their success,\u2019 says Alan Edwards, the veteran PR who has managed everyone from David Bowie to the Beckhams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s no doubt that when the worlds of pop and sport collide, funny things can happen \u2013 and they look to have as much chance as anybody of doing it.\u2019<\/p>\n
For now, the couple are immersed in parenthood. \u2018I\u2019ve never been at home seven days a week for three months in a row,\u2019 Broad says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looks delighted at the prospect of cooking, putting the bins out and finally getting round to wedding planning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He proposed on New Year\u2019s Day 2021 at their favourite spot in Richmond Park, but Covid halted their marriage plans. Busy jobs and a baby further delayed them.<\/p>\n
\u2018Mollie and Annabella played a decent role in my decision to stop playing cricket,\u2019 Broad says. \u2018I don\u2019t want to be away for weeks at a time now.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the photoshoot, a barefoot King piggybacks around on her towering 6ft 6in husband, who later underarm throws foam make-up pads to a set assistant in the style of a former cricketer missing the day job.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Broad proposed to King on New Year\u2019s Day 2021 at their favourite spot in Richmond Park, but Covid, busy jobs and a baby have all delayed the couple<\/p>\n
When we meet, Broad has spent the weekend looking after Annabella while King was at Reading Festival presenting Radio 1\u2019s coverage. Surprisingly neither he nor King appear sleep-deprived.<\/p>\n
\u2018Being a dad makes me wish I\u2019d appreciated my own parents a bit more and thanked them,\u2019 Broad says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Annabella\u00a0is the kind of baby who wants everyone to wake up with her in the night: \u2018She kicks her legs and smiles away,\u2019 says King. \u2018We try to ignore her but we\u2019re terrible at it,\u2019 Broad adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re both up, Alfie the dog\u2019s up. I don\u2019t\u00a0have a clue what I\u2019m doing, to be honest \u2013 you are making it up as you go along.\u2019<\/p>\n
Becoming a father has given Broad \u2018the ultimate contentment\u2019. \u2018No offence, Mollie, but it\u2019s a feeling I\u2019ve never had; a love like no other. When I first held her, nothing else mattered and it was really cool.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been out a couple of times without the baby, \u2018and you appreciate everything more, even going on the tube\u2019, Broad says.<\/p>\n
Although he launched straight into punditry, commentating at Lord\u2019s the day after playing his last match at the end of July, stopping playing professionally \u2018was a really difficult decision. I discussed it with Mollie, my mum and my dad [the former England cricketer Chris Broad], and they told me only I could make the call. That was hard. People say follow your gut but I had no gut feeling. I didn\u2019t feel it was 100 per cent the right call; I was 40\/60.\u2019<\/p>\n
Broad knew he wanted to quit while he was ahead, before his body failed him: \u2018I didn\u2019t want to be lying in bed at night thinking, \u201cI can\u2019t do this any more\u201d.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, he\u2019s bowing out just as cricket is being reinvented. A few years ago, attendance at games was down and young people weren\u2019t playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Along came England Test coach Brendon \u2018Baz\u2019 McCullum. Out went sludgy, slow-scoring, conservative cricket. In came fun, risk-taking \u2018Bazball\u2019, with lots of hitting the ball out of the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Broad retired from cricket in July, after the last day of the last Ashes test against the old enemy Australia<\/p>\n
Broad went out on a high, hitting a six and taking the final two wickets against Australia, still winding up the opposition and bowling at 80 miles an hour in his trademark bandana to the end.<\/p>\n
The first person he told about retiring was the England captain and close family friend Ben Stokes. The night before he announced it to the world, he knocked on his door: \u2018\u201cStokesy, it\u2019s Broady.\u201d He said he couldn\u2019t answer because he was icing his knee. I told him: \u201cI would quite like to see you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘As soon\u00a0as I said that, he knew. Telling people was hard because it makes it real, but I must admit, when I told Stokesy I knew I could reverse it, because no one else knew.\u2019<\/p>\n
He will miss being part of the team, who have supported each other through tough episodes like Stokes\u2019s career break in 2021 to prioritise his mental health.<\/p>\n
\u2018In my dad\u2019s era [the 1980s] there wasn\u2019t even a conversation about mental health,\u2019 Broad says. \u2018When I started, you\u2019d tear a hamstring and go to the physio, but if you were struggling mentally, you wouldn\u2019t mention it to anyone; you would get judged.\u2019<\/p>\n
Playing in front of hostile crowds hurts. How did he handle hearing \u2018Broady, you\u2019re rubbish\u2019 and worse shouted at him daily, usually from Australia supporters?<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve had it from such a young age and can smile at it. But the time difference on tours was difficult, it would mean I couldn\u2019t call Mollie. I\u2019d sit in a hotel room going over why I bowled so badly. You wake up the next day with your brain spinning.\u2019<\/p>\n
Since he was 25, Broad has worked with a psychologist. Each morning he writes down \u2018three things I\u2019m grateful for and three ways I want to see my day going, to hit the day with positivity.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
King first heard of Broad in 2010, when he told a journalist he fancied \u2018Mollie from The Saturdays\u2019<\/p>\n
At home he is a problem-solver. If King feels her radio show has gone badly, he will logically work through why it hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Despite them shrugging off the comparisons, the couple\u2019s love story does have similarities to David and Victoria Beckham\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The then Manchester United star said he fancied Victoria when he first saw her in the Spice Girls. Similarly, King first heard of Broad in 2010, when he told a journalist he fancied \u2018Mollie from The Saturdays\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same journalist later met King and asked her to send a message to Broad, who had injured his rib. She was on tour \u2018and the girls were excited \u2013 \u201cGosh, someone fancies Mollie! Let\u2019s have a look at him.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n
They went on a few dates, but their careers meant it was not to be. Broad had to fly to India and New Zealand for three months, while King went to Los Angeles \u2018with the girls\u2019 on a US tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018How is that sustainable for a relationship?\u2019 Broad says. She dated Prince Harry briefly and was in a relationship with the model David Gandy.<\/p>\n
In 2018, after The Saturdays had broken up and Broad\u2019s career had \u2018calmed down\u2019, they got back in touch. \u2018I see it as fate,\u2019 Broad says. King was sad that they didn\u2019t stay together the first time around because \u2018it felt like there was something there\u2019.<\/p>\n
That was despite King knowing \u2018embarrassingly little about cricket. My dad hated to think what I would have said on our early dates!\u2019 But she did her homework and now she\u2019s been on Test Match Special.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Saturdays on This Morning in 2011 : L-R: Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Rochelle Wiseman, Vanessa White and Una Healy<\/p>\n
\u2018You were starstruck by Aggers [the broadcaster Jonathan Agnew],\u2019 Broad teases (he refers to himself and cricket friends like Agnew by nicknames \u2013 Broady, Wardy, Stokesy…).<\/p>\n
Finding a new career after the breakup of The Saturdays in 2014 was \u2018scary\u2019 for King.\u00a0\u2018I\u2019d stopped doing the thing I\u2019d been dreaming of since I was six years old; it\u2019s such a huge part of your identity. You have to be brave to start something afresh.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
1995 Jamie and Louise Redknapp<\/span><\/p>\n The pair met through mutual friend Robbie Williams while Louise was touring with Eternal, who were supporting Take That on tour. She and the Liverpool and England midfielder Redknapp got married on holiday in Bermuda in 1998 following a whirlwind engagement. Louise filed for divorce in 2017.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n David and Victoria Beckham<\/p>\n 1997 David and Victoria Beckham<\/span><\/p>\n It was love at first sight for Posh Spice when she met David at a charity match at Old Trafford. Their \u00a3750,000 wedding in 1999 \u2013 with thrones for bride and groom \u2013 set a new standard in lavish celebrations. They now have a net worth of \u00a3425 million.<\/p>\n 2010 Shakira and <\/span><\/span>Gerard Piqu\u00e9<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n While filming the video for the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Shakira met FC Barcelona defender Piqu\u00e9. They were together for 11 years and had two children before parting in 2022.<\/p>\n She says that radio presenting gives her \u2018that adrenaline I hadn\u2019t had since being in a band\u2019. She hosts the Future Pop Show, playing new bands for whom it \u2018means so much to be on the radio\u2019.<\/p>\n But what\u2019s the future of radio in a world of podcasts? \u2018You keep people company: on the breakfast show, it\u2019s farmers, people up early; in the evening they\u2019re in the office or on the road. I love podcasts, but for me the radio still has that ultimate connection.\u2019<\/p>\n She makes notes of things that come up in their lives that would be good fodder for the show: \u2018You call them talkies,\u2019 Broad says.<\/p>\n So, when are they going to get married? \u2018There\u2019s been so much going on, we don\u2019t know,\u2019 King says.<\/p>\n Sadly, her father, Stephen, will not be walking her down the aisle. He died a few days after Annabella was born last November, three months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.\u00a0<\/p>\n He worked as\u00a0an accountant and was active, running three marathons. Broad asked him and King\u2019s mum to be there when he proposed: \u2018I knew you\u2019d want your family present.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018The past year has seen the highest highs and the lowest lows,\u2019 King says.\u00a0She wells up.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m pleased that\u00a0my dad got to meet Annabella. There are so many times when I know he is with us. He would be so proud.\u2019<\/p>\n She and Broad both knew they wanted children. \u2018Timing can be difficult with jobs,\u2019 King says. \u2018It\u2019s not like when you\u2019re young and think you can do things at set ages.\u2019<\/p>\n With that, they\u2019re off to pick up Annabella from Mollie\u2019s mum.<\/p>\n A fine partnership: Broady and Moll, 37 and 36, not out.<\/p>\n\n