FIFA World Cup 2022: who is Gabby Logan’s husband Kenny? what has BBC Sports presenter said about his cancer diagnosis?

Gabby Logan is currenty in Qatar reporting on the FIFA World Cup, after becoming one of the first female sports anchors to break into terrestrial television in the 1990s.

The Sports presenter, 49, from Leeds, who is the daughter of former Leeds football player and manager Terry Yorath, began her broadcasting career with Sky Sports. She then went on to join ITV and presented various fixtures, including The World Cup and Champions League.

In the years since, Gabby has worked closely with the BBC to present shows such as Inside Sport, Final Score, Invictus Games, MOTD Six Nations, and The Olympic Journey. She was also a key member of the BBC’s presenting team for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

With her sporting background, it was almost inevitable that her personal relationships would also relate to sports.

So, who is Kenny Logan, and what is the timeline of their relationship?

Who is Kenny Logan?

Kenny Logan, 50, is a former Scottish Union Rugby player, who played for Stirling County RFC and Glasgow District at amateur level. He then went on to play for Glasgow Warriors, Wasps RFC and London Scottish at professional level.

At the age of 20, he made his Scotland debut against Australia and two years later also competed in the 1994 Five Nations Championship. He won 70 caps over a 11-year period, scoring 20 tries in the process.

Kenny chose to retire from international rugby after the 2003 World Cup, as he wanted to concentrate on his business career and family.

How did Gabby and Kenny meet?

In Kenny’s 2010 autobiography, Just For Kicks, he recalled the moment he first saw his future wife, Gabby, and admitted that for him, it was love at first sight.

He revealed that it was 1999, and he was in a bar in Fulham with a few of the Wasps boys, when a blonde bombshell walked in, who he recognised from the TV. Gabby Yorath had arrived at the same bar with Tamsin from Sky Sports, who he already knew, so he timidly approached them and introduced himself. Upon meeting Gabby he recalled that he was dumbstruck and incredibly excited.

Gabby has also previously revealed details about the first time she met the pro rugby star. She explained that she’d been out at a girlfriend’s birthday party and was sharing a taxi with a friend, when they stopped for a drink at a bar in the early hours.

After meeting Kenny, the pair eventually left together and went to a nearby all-night cafe to continue chatting. According to Gabby, they spent the next six hours talking non-stop.

She said: “I felt immediately at ease with him and in my head I thought, ‘I’m not going to screw this up’."

Dating and Relationship 

Gabby initially decided to take her relationship with Kenny slowly, and as a result her friends began to believe that Kenny was actually gay - he respected her wishes.

After the unexpected death of her younger brother, she found that she wasn’t attracting the right relationships into her life. Speaking to Steven Bartlett on his The Diary Of A CEO podcast, Gabby said: “I was not going out with people that were enhancing me as a person, or my life.”

She continued: “Why would I want to have any long-term commitment with anybody who’d treat me well or be nice to me. I wasn’t going to commit to something, so I may as well be with somebody who wasn’t that nice to me who didn’t make me feel good about myself.”

After starting a relationship with Kenny, she felt as though it was going somewhere serious, so there was no need to rush.

In the early days, Gabby admitted that she felt that she was in the shadow of Kenny’s highly published previous relationship with Scottish newsreader, Kirsty Young. However she felt reassured that the relationships didn’t overlap, as Gabby met Kenny eight months after his split from Young.

Six months into their relationship, Kenny moved into Gabby’s four-bedroom house in Chiswick, West London.

Engagement 

The former Rugby Union star had been dating BBC football presenter Gabby Yorath for about seven months when he decided to get down on one knee.

Before doing so, Kenny decided he would get permission from her dad, former football star Terry Yorath, during a family golfing holiday in Spain.

In his 2010 autobiography, the Stirling-born rugby star revealed: “I gathered all my will power and forced myself to say, ‘Terry I want to marry Gabby.’”

He promptly replied: ‘Does she want to marry you?’ To which Kenny replied: “‘What? Yeah. Well I think so.’” Terry then added:  “‘I don’t know... that’s not the vibe I’m getting.’”

The debate between them continued, and by the end of the evening Kenny was still unsure of whether Terry had said yes, or no. He wrote, in his autobiography: “Terry came in for breakfast the next morning and didn’t say a word on the subject. This was becoming unbearable.”

But thankfully, former Cardiff City manager Terry had come round to the idea, as he put an arm around Kenny, before telling him: “It would be an honour to have you as my son-in-law.”

The following summer, Kenny took Gabby to his hometown Stirling in Scotland where he insisted that they go to the top of the Wallace Monument. Once there, he presented her with a 2.5 carat diamond and proposed to her.

Marriage and Children 

Gabby went on to marry rugby star Kenny Logan in Stirlingshire, just minutes from his family home on 19 July 2001.

The couple welcomed twins, Lois and Rueben on 28 July 2005, who were conceived after IVF treatment. Last year, Gabby spoke to Andrea Bryne on her Making Babies, fertility podcast, where she described the pain she experienced while going through IVF.

She said: "It was probably three years from trying naturally to having IVF. The whole process of the IVF was stressful, we treated it like a sports schedule. I was trying to see it as a treatment almost.”

“Then on how many days after I was supposed to be getting a blood test, I bled that day and I decided that was it and I wasn’t having a baby,” she added.

Gabby continued: “The doctor said ‘go and get your blood test done anyway’. I woke up and there was blood, but there was enough for me to decide that was it."

The sports presenter later found out that she was pregnant and didn’t suffer the miscarriage, that she was convinced she had.

Gabby told the Making Babies Podcast, that they were told that there were no issues and they should be able to conceive naturally.

As rugby is a rough sport, “Kenny went for a full medical about his sperm,” before he proposed to Gabby, so he could confirm that he wasn’t infertile and they could start a family together.

Current life

By the time the twins were born Kenny had retired from playing rugby, to focus on his business career and Gabby was thriving as a sports presenter.

In 2007, they both competed in the fifth series of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, with the couple being partnered with Strictly’s married pro dancing couple Ola and James Jordan. Gabby was eliminated from the show in week four and Kenny left in week nine, after making it to the final five celebrity contestants.

Gabby became an even more prominent face of sports presenting, making appearances at BBC Athletics, Invictus Games, Commonwealth Games, UEFA Women’s Euros and this year’s FIFA World Cup.

She also started a podcast, titled ‘The MidPoint,’ where she talks to guests about midlife challenges and expectations. Gabby also released her memoir, The First Half, where she talks candidly about the highs, lows, loves and losses she’s experienced.

The couple were rocked earlier this year, when Kenny was diagnosed with cancer, and underwent surgery to remove his prostate.

Gabby spoke to Steven Bartlett on his The Diary Of A CEO podcast, about her husband’s cancer diagnosis, saying:  “It was a horrible thing to see him in the pain he was in afterwards, it’s a horrible thing to go through. But he’s doing really well now.”

She tearfully admitted, “I couldn’t have ever wished for anybody to share my life with who’s better.” “He’s a great man, I’m very lucky,” she added.