It’s lower than a 12 months since rugby star Stuart Hogg revelled in one of many proudest moments in a glittering worldwide profession. With two of his youngsters in tow, a 3rd in his arms, he strode onto the pitch at Murrayfield to a thunderous ovation to mark his a hundredth cap for Scotland.
And what a fixture it promised to be. Scotland, nonetheless in with a shout of successful the 2023 Six Nations trophy, have been about to face Eire, the primary crew on the planet.
Touchingly, the match ball was delivered onto the pitch by Hogg’s son Archie. How becoming – or so it appeared – for one of many quintessential household males of Scottish sport.
Hogg’s spouse Gillian and their brood have been common fixtures at his matches and he talked about them usually in interviews. It was they he paid tribute to a fortnight after this match when he introduced – aged solely 30 – that he was quitting the sport.
There was different momentous information in his household Hogg would have found round this time. His spouse was pregnant once more. Child quantity 4 was due in November.
Stuart Hogg was pictured with Leonna Mayor lower than every week after his spouse had given start to their fourth youngster
Little might any of the followers saluting the rugby legend again in March have imagined the place Hogg could be in his life by the point new daughter Phoebe Ann was born.
he first clue, six days after the start, got here on the Instagram profile of a retired jockey, Leonna Mayor, 32, who was sharing selfies along with her 31,000 followers of her keep at a spa retreat in Staffordshire.
There in a bathrobe beside her, grinning from ear to ear, was Hogg. ‘The least Mondayest Monday ever’ learn the caption, which was accompanied by a ‘cherished up’ emoji.
His child was lower than every week previous. And ‘household man’ Hogg was not solely absent however kicking again with a glamorous girl pal.
The next month, each Hogg and the brand new girl in his life have been posting footage from Dubai, the place they have been holidaying collectively – though they averted showing in the identical shot.
Their circumspection lasted only some weeks. At Christmas, she posted an image of the pair posing subsequent to their tree.
In January, Hogg shared footage of them collectively at Musselburgh Races. In February, on the day Scotland performed Wales of their Six Nations opener in Cardiff, he posted an image of Mayor with the caption: ‘This little magnificence’s first rugby sport. Nice consequence for the Scotland Workforce lads.’
His marriage, it appeared, was over. And whereas his estranged spouse tended to their new child, he and his new love have been ‘flaunting’ their romance on social media.
That , definitely, was how pals of the mom of 4 noticed the state of affairs. She is claimed to be ‘devastated’ by how rapidly he has gone public together with his relationship with Mayor, who’s now a TV horseracing presenter.
The torment of the new child’s mom is probably exacerbated by the couple’s seemingly deliberate choice to parade their new circumstances to their Instagram followers.
The platform looms massive in each their lives. Mayor, who was dubbed ‘the world’s sexiest jockey’ when she posed in her underwear for Zoo journal in 2013, fills her profile with infinite selfies exhibiting her in bikinis in unique international climes.
An more and more image-conscious Hogg – now launching a TV profession of his personal – seems equally in thrall to Instagram, at the same time as criticism abounds over his crassness in chronicling his new romance there.
The bewildering velocity with which his life has modified course was underlined by the discharge final month of the Netflix collection Six Nations: Full Contact. Hogg options closely in episode seven. It tells the story of that crunch Scotland vs Eire fixture final March which proved to be his a hundredth and final worldwide look.
We see a sportsman confronting the mortality of his profession. ‘I’m solely 30 however my physique isn’t 30,’ he admits. ‘I want it was. I want it was youthful and fewer damaged.’ However, he’s in Gregor Townsend’s beginning 15 to face Eire and is clearly moved by the coach’s tribute to ‘Hoggy’ as ‘top-of-the-line Scotland gamers in our historical past’.
Interviewed for the programme, Hogg declares that each one he ever needed in his 12-year rugby profession was to ‘make my household proud’. And but, by the point the collection was launched just some months later, Hogg’s life had been turned on its head. His taking part in days have been over by the summer season – and so, in brief order, was his marriage.
An ankle harm had compelled Hogg off the sphere within the second half of that Eire match, which Scotland went on to lose, and it sidelined him for the remainder of the event. He had hoped to play within the Rugby World Cup in France later that 12 months however, by the summer season, he realised this swansong was unrealistic.
He hung up his boots for his membership, Exeter Chiefs, and his nation with quick impact in July. ‘I’ve made this name as a result of I need what’s finest for me and for my household,’ he stated on the time.
‘And I consider I’ve made the fitting choice.’
Stuart Hogg in motion for Scotland in final 12 months’s Six Nations match towards Eire at Murrayfield
Interviews he gave round that point revealed a person in turmoil. In a single, he spoke about ‘abuse’ he had acquired on social media about his proneness to accidents. When he stopped followers messaging him on these platforms, he stated some began messaging his spouse as a substitute.
‘Individuals assume as a result of we’re sportsmen we’ve bought the whole lot that we wish and life’s a bit of p*** and we’ve bought the dream job or no matter.
‘They fully neglect that we’re judged on 80 minutes of our week. Whereas the remainder of the week we’re a standard human being that must be a husband, to be a dad.’
He stated latterly – after having dental veneers fitted and making an attempt new hairstyles, together with a ‘manbun’ – the abuse was about his look.
‘I’d put a photograph up of Gill and I being at a marriage and I’d get abuse about my hair or my tooth – or like, it’s like a Colgate advert as a result of Gill’s bought good tooth as nicely.
‘I’m like, you already know what, “F*** you”. I’ve had sufficient of this.’
Hogg, who captained the worldwide crew for 3 years till 2022, admitted the social media criticism had fashioned a part of his choice to retire.
In one other interview he admitted being ‘emotionally and bodily drained with the sport’ and needed to be together with his household as a substitute.
He instructed the TNT Sports activities channel, for which he now works: ‘I sit out right here [in his garden], day after day, simply considering to myself, talking to a great deal of totally different individuals. The quantity of instances I’ve damaged down in tears as a result of I believed, “I’ve to maintain going, need to hold going”, and the realisation that I couldn’t.
‘I bought to the stage in my rugby profession that I used to be lacking my children rising up.’ He added: ‘When my son, who’s seven, turns as much as me, and I come residence from coaching, and he’s like, “Dad, do you need to go outdoors and play soccer?” And I’m like, “Mate, I can’t. I genuinely can’t, like I’m completely beat”.
‘His little face, and he’s out within the rain… I sit there and I watch him, and he’s on his personal, and I’m like, “That is completely breaking me”. I need to be there for my children.’
Now he they usually not dwell beneath the identical roof.
And bizarrely, given his intolerance of criticism on social media, it’s there that he chooses to promote his new romantic preparations.
Although his spouse has not spoken publicly, pals say she has been ‘fully blindsided by this’.
One stated: ‘She’s damaged into one million items. Having their fourth youngster was alleged to be a contented time for them as a household, however as a substitute her life has been torn aside.’
It’s understood the cut up got here shortly after the couple relocated to Hogg’s hometown of Hawick in Roxburghshire following their spell within the Exeter space, the place he had been taking part in his membership rugby.
At first, he was believed to have stayed within the household residence whereas his spouse and kids moved out. Now they’re again and he, it appears, has moved out.
Information of the brand new romance introduced virtually quick repercussions in Hawick. Hogg had been on account of co-host the native rugby membership’s anniversary dinner in late November however withdrew at brief discover.
A couple of days later, vandals defaced the Hornshole Monument within the city, daubing it with slurs geared toward Hogg.
Later in December Hogg issued an announcement, saying the ‘on-line abuse has crossed a line that’s impacting my household, relationships and wellbeing.’ He added: ‘I’m upset that individuals assume that I’ve not been there for my youngsters – this isn’t the case. I do and can proceed to see them typically. My marriage ended a while earlier than the child was born. It was the perfect choice for us all.’
And but Hogg appeared content material to maintain feeding the beast. Inside days of that assertion, he posted an image of himself and Mayor of their finery at Musselburgh Races.
However it was swiftly eliminated, after one of the vital unedifying episodes in a story that was turning right into a cleaning soap opera.
Stuart Hogg and Leonna Mayor flaunt their romance on social media
Gillian Hogg is claimed to be ‘damaged’ by cut up
Their January 1 day on the races ended up again at his brother Graham’s home in Hawick, the place a household bust-up ensued. It turned so heated the police have been referred to as.
One supply instructed The Solar the household day trip bought ‘very messy’ and led to Hogg briefly deleting his Instagram account and his brother deleting all the photographs from the day trip.
Solely a day earlier, it was revealed that Hogg had been made an MBE for his companies to rugby. It ought to have been a time of huge pleasure for his household. As an alternative, it appears, tensions in it have been operating excessive.
Police later confirmed that they had attended following a report of a disturbance however stated that no criminality had been established.
In his hometown this week, it’s honest to say the native hero’s fame shouldn’t be what it as soon as was, no less than for some.
One 42-year-old man tells the Mail: ‘His angle is surprising.’ Associates or household, he suggests, ought to have instructed him to ‘tone it down’.
‘His fame is unquestionably tarnished. He’s positively not bought a great title. Earlier than, he was nicely considered.’
An area girl, in the meantime, says: ‘You’ll hear nothing good from me. He left the household with three youngsters. His spouse simply gave start to the fourth and he was with any person else and put footage on social media.’
At his residence within the city, Hogg’s father John says merely: ‘We have now spoken with Stuart and, as a household, we’re simply holding quiet.’
Solely three different gamers have notched up 100 caps or extra for the worldwide crew and no Scottish participant has scored extra tries for his nation than Hogg.
And but there’s a sense he could have misplaced greater than his rugby profession when he retired disappointingly early following a listing of accidents.
Did he additionally lose his sound judgment? And if that’s the case, is it coming again?
In his new relationship, there may be definitely a shared data of the trauma of untimely retirement.
Mayor received 32 races between 2009 and 2013 however needed to bow out of the game in her early 20s on account of an ankle harm.
The pair now earn their livings in comparable methods too. However it’s of their image-obsessed – some would say narcissistic – posts on social media that they’re maybe most alike.
Their romance is a personal matter they appear powerless to cease publicising – typically on the most inopportune moments.
j.brocklebank@dailymailco.uk
