For many sports fans, Lawrence Dallaglio will always be remembered as the fearless number 8 who helped England lift the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
But off the field, the former England captain has had a far tougher battle—this time not with opponents, but with his own finances, personal life, and reputation.
Now at 52, Dallaglio is facing what could be the biggest challenge of all: starting over after being declared bankrupt and forced to sell the family home where he raised his three children.
Losing the Family Home in Richmond
Dallaglio recently sold his long-time family home in Richmond, Surrey—an idyllic four-bedroom property he bought back in 2001 for £925,000.
At one point, he hoped the home would bring in £3.3 million, but due to mounting debts and urgent court proceedings, it ended up selling for significantly less—around £600,000 below his expectations.
Ironically, the buyer is reportedly a rising Premier League football star.
Meanwhile, the equity left in the home was only about £1.2 million, leaving little left once creditors were paid.
Bankruptcy Triggered by Bitter Divorce
It was Dallaglio’s estranged wife Alice, also 52, who filed for an urgent court order to sell the home, hoping to stave off financial ruin.
But despite the sale, the effort wasn’t enough.
One of Dallaglio’s creditors successfully pushed for a bankruptcy order.
This came just two years after he narrowly avoided a similar fate, when HMRC went after him for an unpaid tax bill of £700,000.
At the time, Dallaglio managed to enter into an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) to settle his debts—but by 2024, he was still being chased for hundreds of thousands of pounds in loans.
A Marriage Shaken by Scandals
Lawrence and Alice married in a romantic Lake Como ceremony in 2005, but cracks in their relationship reportedly appeared early on.
After the birth of their children—Enzo, Ella, and Josie—things grew tense.
In 2005, Alice had a fling with millionaire property developer Leon Butler, an affair that her family later insisted wasn’t the sole reason for the marriage breakdown.
Her mother, artist Lydia Corbett (once famously known as Picasso’s final muse), said Dallaglio’s own struggles played a key role in the split.
Years of Public Scandals and Private Regret
While Dallaglio’s rugby career was all about grit and glory, his personal life has long been shadowed by controversy.
In the late 1990s, he was caught in a media storm over alleged drug use and sex scandals.
He was stripped of the England captaincy after admitting to experimenting with drugs as a teenager and claiming he had dealt cocaine to make money before becoming a professional athlete.
He later described himself as “naive and foolish,” insisting he now stood firmly against drugs—but the damage was done.
The scandal cost him £15,000 in fines and another £10,000 in legal costs.
Links to a High-End London Brothel
In 2020, Dallaglio’s name resurfaced in yet another controversy—this time tied to a brothel operating out of a Georgian townhouse in Holborn.
Undercover police raided the site in 2019 and discovered credit card transactions, including four payments from Dallaglio’s account totalling £10,500.
One transaction alone, for £7,550, went into the account of a 22-year-old Romanian madam.
Though Dallaglio was interviewed under caution, he wasn’t arrested and didn’t testify during the court case.
Rugby Roots and a Sister’s Tragic Death
Despite his later troubles, Dallaglio’s motivation to succeed was born from tragedy.
In 1989, his sister Francesca—an aspiring ballerina—died in the infamous Marchioness riverboat disaster in London. She was just 19.
Dallaglio, who was 16 at the time and attending Ampleforth College, was invited to the party that night but didn’t go due to a headache.
He later said her death drove him to “pull his finger out” and make something of his life.
A Colourful Childhood Before Rugby Fame
Before becoming a household name in rugby, Dallaglio had a surprising early life.
As a 12-year-old, he sang at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wedding and even did backing vocals for Tina Turner’s hit song We Don’t Need Another Hero.
He performed in the West End production of Evita and sang with Barry Manilow, too.
Born to an Italian father and an Irish-English mother, Dallaglio grew up in Richmond, attended private schools, and always seemed destined for the spotlight—even if rugby wasn’t always the plan.
Life After Retirement and Charity Work
Since retiring in 2008, Dallaglio has stayed close to the sport through punditry and motivational speaking.
He also founded the Dallaglio RugbyWorks charity, inspired by his mother’s death from cancer that same year.
Initially a broad-based charity, it later shifted focus to help teens excluded from mainstream education.
Dallaglio has raised millions through charity bike rides and