Personal Life (William Carter): Romances

Relationships

The English singer and songwriter Emma Bunton, better known as "Baby Spice" as a member of the British girl group Spice Girls. Since April 2005, Bunton has been married to former English footballer Sir Rio Ferdinand, with whom she has three children.

During an interview with Men's Health in 2017, Carter revealed himself to be "not really the romantic type" in his early years, stating that despite his fairly good looks and fame that rose unprecedentedly in the wake of his World Cup heroics with the United States, he never seriously considered a romantic relationship which he feared could interrupt his growing football career. Citing the publicity and media fanfare that surrounded former Manchester United and England player Sir David Beckham following his marriage to Spice Girls singer Victoria Adams, Carter said, "Personally speaking, I don't want that kind of attention on myself ever especially when my career was about to reach new heights and which absolutely required my total commitment. To have the paparazzi and the media always chasing after you and asking you questions incessantly just when you're coming back from a tiring match or an exhausting training is something that I really don't look forward to and which I would like to avoid at all cost" . In addition, Carter has also expressed his "personal annoyance" at being asked questions that relate less to football than the opposite, stating, "Quite simply, I'm a professional footballer and as such I should normally be asked questions about football rather than the ones about which woman I have seen recently or what restaurant did I loved going to the most. It's all just quite silly and so utterly ridiculous with the quality of questions one like myself gets on the daily because, given my profession, I should be getting questions like which goal did I love scoring the most, what's my favourite club, and other questions like that".

Although a notoriously private individual, owing to his good looks and fame, Carter was frequently linked romantically to various women by tabloids and magazines with names including actresses Natalie Portman and Emily Blunt, singer Britney Spears, and fashion models Miranda Kerr and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. However, in a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Carter confirmed that he had only been in two serious romantic relationships, namely with the fashion model Gisele Bündchen as well as the actress and current wife Anne Hathaway. Meanwhile, in an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Carter revealed that as a teenager, he once harboured feelings for the German tennis player Steffi Graf whose beauty and sporting prowess both appealed to him greatly, adding that after becoming fairly established himself, he then planned to meet the German tennis star in person. However, Graf later ended up marrying Carter's uncle Prince Nelson, one of Great Britain's most formidable tennis players, thereby making herself Carter's aunt-in-law. Since then, Carter has spoken of having a deep bond with his German aunt, stating that as among the world's top athletes, the two naturally share some common values that propelled both of them to success in their respective sports. Otherwise, Carter also revealed that at one point, his compatriot Sir David Beckham attempted to pair him with one of his wife's Spice Girls bandmates Emma Bunton, better known as Baby Spice, in an apparent scheme to have both himself and Carter married to a Spice Girls singer. However, the effort ultimately proved unsuccessful and Bunton herself later ended up marrying another English footballer in Sir Rio Ferdinand, a former teammate of both Beckham and Carter at England and Manchester United and who is considered to be one of England's greatest defenders in history. Together, the couple have three children including two daughters and a son. In this, when later asked in an interview about his favourite Spice Girls member, Carter instead named Melanie C, better known as Sporty Spice or by her real name Melanie Chisholm, with the reason being that as an athlete in his own right, he simply "gravitated" towards Chisholm's "sporty" image, adding that "if things were somehow different and I did not ultimately end up with my beloved wife, I might perhaps go for Melanie when the time is right".

Despite being only ten years younger than his stepmother, namely the American supermodel Christy Turlington, his father's wife since 1995, Carter has revealed in subsequent interviews that the two share a fairly normal mother-son relationship, stating, "Sure, we might be born only ten years apart and could be siblings and whatnot, but in the end, she is the mother of my half-siblings and my father's beloved wife, so, as the stepson, I ultimately love and respect her like any good stepchildren would. Simply put, it is what it is". Meanwhile, regarding the closeness in age, Carter noted how, in contrast to situations where a typically much older man marries a woman closer in age to his children than to himself, his father and stepmother themselves are only nine years apart in age and that he is only that close in age to the American supermodel because his father had him with the American actress Lynda Carter at the relatively young age of eighteen, hence the relative closeness in age.

Gisele Bündchen

The Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, best known for her work with Victoria's Secret. From 2004 to 2007, she was Carter's romantic interest before later marrying American football quarterback Tom Brady, with whom she had two children. In 2022, the couple divorced after thirteen years of marriage.

Beginning in 2002, Carter would first meet Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea where Carter himself was one of the main stars as the young captain of the United States national team. In this, Bündchen, despite personally witnessing Brazil's shock 0-5 loss to the United States in the finals in which Carter himself scored a famous hat-trick to overcome the star-studded Brazil national team, was reportedly impressed enough by the American captain's heroics that she later proved successful in meeting Carter himself in a rare and private encounter at a high-end hotel where the United States players were staying at for the tournament. The encounter, which Carter himself later described as "very surreal" and "one-in-a-million chance", saw the two bond quickly over their shared love of football and Bündchen's own admiration of Carter's footballing skills. However, despite initial progress, the two did not quickly establish a romantic relationship given that Bündchen was still with her then-boyfriend, the actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Regardless, by 2004, amidst questions of incompatibility and bouts of depression, the couple eventually broke up, and Bündchen subsequently started dating Carter in relative secrecy with the couple said to have spent their first time together in the form of a private trip to the Scottish Highlands in the United Kingdom which Carter personally fancied for its captivating landscape and natural beauty.

Owing to their high-profile statuses and the apparent need to avoid encroaching paparazzi, the two chose to keep their relationship a closely-knit secret and away from the media and public in a choice that Carter later described as "very difficult to make but which we thought was necessary given the circumstances and our own natural need for privacy and the sort". In this, despite it being a mutual agreement, the need for secrecy soon gradually took its toll on the couple's relationship, causing them to gradually distance themselves from one another amidst career demands and the overarching need to remain tight-lipped about their romance for fear of it disrupting Carter's budding football career as was seemingly the case for the latter's famous compatriot David Beckham. Eventually, around 2007, in a much private manner, the two officially parted ways with Bündchen later marrying American football quarterback Tom Brady whereas Carter began romantically pursuing American actress Anne Hathaway. Later, during a 2022 interview shortly after her divorce from Brady, the Brazilian supermodel recounted her previous romance with Carter as "something beautiful that we could not sadly see it through all the way together", stating, "Simply put, he was very nice to me and was always steady and composed whenever an issue comes up. Unfortunately, perhaps by chance, we just couldn't see ourselves sticking together amidst all that stress and pressure that was slowly building up and demanding us to do something about our relationship. In the end, we didn't really hate each other but just thought that it would be best if we both had someone else to continue with afterward". In the meantime, Carter himself has expressed some praise for Bündchen, particularly for the latter's role in "being close to me during some of my most turbulent years", stating, "At the time, even with my family around me, I just felt almost alone having to deal with all the newfound fame and pressure that suddenly came crashing down on me, and she was very important in making me feel otherwise and ultimately being able to overcome it".

Interestingly, despite representing different types of sports, Carter and Brady are generally considered to be the most successful players in their respective fields with Brady particularly known for his many successes with the New England Patriots, a National Football League franchise owned by Carter's father. Later, in 2023, Brady, having divorced Bündchen following thirteen years of his marriage, made his entry into association football by purchasing a minority stake in the English football club Birmingham City and subsequently employed Carter's compatriot Sir Wayne Rooney as head coach before relegation from the EFL Championship in the aftermath of a disastrous season subsequently led to Rooney's firing before the end of the season. Meanwhile, following her divorce from her longtime husband, Bündchen remarried to businessman Jeffrey Soffer, son of billionaire Donald Soffer, who, in turn, is the husband of Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson, thereby uniquely making the two supermodels Bündchen and Macpherson in-laws by marriage.

Anne Hathaway

The American actress Anne Hathaway attending the premiere of The Devil Wears Prada at the LA Film Festival in June 2006. The actress headlined the film alongside co-stars Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

In the months after his relationship with Gisele Bündchen ended, once again in relative secrecy, Carter began dating American actress Anne Hathaway, whom he had first met while attending the premiere of The Devil Wears Prada in which Hathaway starred alongside Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep while Carter's then-girlfriend Gisele Bündchen also played a minor role in the film herself. Reportedly, after quickly striking up a good rapport with both Hathaway and Blunt, Carter, having already become gradually distant from his then-girlfriend while otherwise finding himself particularly drawn to Hathway, subsequently began seeing the American actress shortly after he officially parted ways with the Brazilian supermodel. To that end, it was said that Carter, borrowing mostly from his father's own romance tactics, subsequently took Hathaway on a trip to the Scottish Highlands where the actress later revealed that the two even spent some time climbing the Ben Nevis mountain, the highest in the British Isles. In a later recollection, Hathaway admitted to almost tripping and falling on several occasions but nonetheless described it as a "truly romantic experience", adding that Carter was her first boyfriend to have taken her on a hiking trip and that the actress herself had wanted to personally explore the United Kingdom. Coincidentally, Hathaway's co-star Meryl Streep, who portrays Miranda Priestly in the film, once starred together with Carter's father in Out of Africa, a 1985 romantic drama film.

In this, despite adopting a similar secretive approach from his previous relationship, by the early 2010s, Carter began loosening up somewhat, appearing alongside Hathaway and other actresses, including Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, and Julia Roberts in the 2010 romantic comedy film Valentine's Day. Eventually, on 1 July 2012, following a secret engagement two years prior, the couple officially declared their relationship to the public shortly after the UEFA Euro 2012 Final between England and Spain at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine where Hathaway publicly joined Carter and the England players on the pitch in celebration of their back-to-back European glory, making it the first time that the couple has appeared together in public as they embraced and kissed in public view. Later, on 21 July 2014, a week after Carter won his final FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil that year, the couple was wedded in a private ceremony at Oheka Castle in New York, United States, the same venue that previously hosted the weddings of Carter's father to his stepmother and of his paternal grandparents, the late King Charles III and Lauren Bacall. In the following year, the couple welcomed a pair of fraternal twins, William and Anne, who are named after the English poet William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway, the actress's own namesake. In an ensuing revelation, it was reported that their two children would carry the surname "Carter-Hathaway", a choice reportedly taken in order to avoid confusion between the children and their similarly-named parents until Carter himself later said that he simply liked the "classical-sounding" "Hathaway" surname and, out of pure love for his wife, chose to include the latter's surname in naming their children. Following this, the couple welcomed two further children, namely a daughter Andy, named after Hathaway's character in The Devil Wears Prada, followed by a son named after the couple's close friend and actor John Krasinski. In 2016, after Carter was knighted by his sister for his services to football, Hathaway, by virtue of marriage, received the courtesy title of "Lady Carter". However, the actress has never used the courtesy title in public, preferring to be known by her given name instead.

A scene from the 2010 comedy-drama film The Devil Wears Prada depicting actresses Anne Hathaway (left) and Emily Blunt (right) as their respective characters in the film.

During a 2017 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Carter revealed that he initially planned on wooing English actress Emily Blunt, at the time in a relationship with Canadian singer Michael Bublé, after seeing her performance in The Devil Wears Prada and finding her "English rose" image somewhat attractive. However, he instead ended up marrying Blunt's co-star and close friend Anne Hathaway whom he began romantically pursuing after his younger sister Alexandra, a huge fan of Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, allegedly pressured him to do so out of her desire to meet the American actress herself. To that end, when asked if he would have taken a different direction in the absence of his sister's influence, Carter said, "In retrospect, I don't think being married to Anne was even a bad decision anyway because, simply put, I love her so much and is more than proud to call her my wife. Nonetheless, even with my sister having a rather weird role in bringing us together, we ultimately know that we are made for each other and we are going to remain that way for the rest of our lives". Otherwise, Blunt, having been married to American actor John Krasinski since 2010, once revealed that prior to her marriage, she actually once "fawned" over the former England captain but was reportedly too shy to make her own move, stating, "At the time, I wasn't necessarily the most famous and well-known actress in England which, compared to him (Carter) essentially being the most famous footballer in the world, really made me very nervous about even approaching or outright dating him because I know that I'll most likely be the new Posh Spice as the wife of a famous footballer with all the cameras and paparazzi on me 24/7 which was something that I'm not willing to face at the time". Regardless, the two are known to be very close both to each other and to their respective spouses, with Blunt herself even serving as the maid of honour at the couple's July 21st wedding, whereas Carter is said to be extremely well-liked by the couple's two daughters Hazel and Violet whom, according to Blunt, affectionately refers to Carter as "Uncle William".

In recent years, despite Carter's well-known history with Manchester United, his wife has otherwise ironically appeared to be publicly supporting Arsenal, a club previously considered by many to be a fierce rival of Manchester United during the 2000s. According to Carter, the American-born Hathaway, who had little knowledge of English football before meeting her eventual husband, initially supported Manchester United but mostly due to Carter himself playing for the club over anything else. Then, as Carter's two half-siblings Alexandra and Richard began their football careers with Arsenal, during which Manchester United's own fortunes began declining, the actress, who enjoys close relations with both of her husband's half-siblings, gradually switched her allegiance to the North London club and, in recent years, has begun attending Arsenal matches when she is not busy. In this, fellow high-profile supporters of the club include fellow actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, Robert Pattinson, Zoey Deutch, Kate Mara, Henry Cavill, Letitia Wright, singers Mick Jagger, Rihanna, social media star KSI, and current British prime minister Keir Starmer.