DEEPEST PAIN
Shocking tragedy that tore Lawrence Dallaglio’s life apart before brothel scandal & wife’s pal fling he ‘never got over’
The sportsman revealed the heartbreaking disaster led him to become a rugby star for a very sweet reason
HAVING weathered cheating scandals, brothel parties and financial ruin, it seemed Lawrence Dallaglio’s marriage could have survived anything.
But yesterday, 20 years on from tying the knot, the former England Rugby World Cup winner and his model wife Alice’s divorce was revealed, as they tried to thrash out a separation settlement in court.
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The couple had survived a steady succession of scandals throughout the decades, including Lawrence's party-boy ways in the Nineties and then Alice's affair with a multimillionaire property developer in 2003.
Allegations of the TV pundit, 52, splurging £10,000 at a brothel, famed for £300-an-hour sex workers, followed, alongside a driving ban and the collapse of his business with a £700,000 unpaid tax bill.
Yesterday an insider told the “marriage never really totally got over Alice’s fling”, which they “could not completely forget”, and “Lawrence’s own behaviour and shortcomings” also contributed to the split.
To outsiders, the rugby star's trespasses were pure hedonistic - but behind the scandalous moments lie a great tragedy that shaped and tortured him from his teen years.
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The seismic moment was the tragic death of his 19-year-old sister Francesca in the 1989 Marchioness disaster and, subsequently, struggling to deal with the feeling his, and other families, never truly got justice.
The teen was the youngest of 51 to die when the 85ft party boat sank after being mounted and forced "underwater like a toy" by the Bowbelle dredger, which was three times longer and 1,472 tonnes in weight.
Lawrence, who was just 17 when talented ballerina Francesca died, believed it contributed to a reckless streak, explaining: “From that day on, life was never the same and still never has been the same.”
He revealed he came close to going off the rails in the wake of the tragedy, before finding solace in rugby.
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“I channelled my energies in a very different direction and I was getting into all sorts of trouble here, there and everywhere,” he said.
He later told the : “We were very close and obviously that incident and that tragedy, was horrific, and, you know, it blew us apart really in many ways, as it would do to anyone when you lose someone so close to you.
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“It was a very difficult time…for a couple of years, I was definitely questioning the reason for being, questioning what’s going on, and it took a bit of time... I was making some poor life choices and not really heading in the right direction.”
Lawrence considered the loss of Francesca, who was described as a "diamond" and an “emerald, full of laughter and the love of life”, as one of “those sliding door moments” that shaped him forever
He revealed he too should have been at the party but opted to have dinner with his family, due to having a headache.
Lawrence said: "I chose not to go. Probably one of the few parties I’ve ever turned down and she went along, and she passed away. I decided not to go along and I’m still here.”
The morning the news broke, Lawrence was woken up by his mother Eileen, who told him Francesca hadn’t come home.
"I could hear the helicopters overhead and I immediately thought to myself she must be dead," he later said. "She was very sensible, she was everything that I wasn't at that age. The fact that she hadn't come home told you everything."
The Marchioness was carrying 131 passengers on the River Thames when it sank just 26 minutes after departing Embankment Pier at 1.20am on August 20.
It was revealed the Bowbelle’s captain Douglas Henderson had drunk six pints of lager on the afternoon of the fatal collision and there were “poor lookouts on both vessels”.
What happened after the Marchioness Disaster
Tragically 51 people died in the Marchioness Disaster and many of the families felt let down because it took more than a decade to get a public inquiry
Two cases were brought against Douglas Henderson, captain of the Bowbelle, for failing to have an effective lookout but they resulted in a hung jury.
A private prosecution for manslaughter against directors of the South Coast Shipping Company, which owned the Bowbelle, and corporate manslaughter against the company were dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
While there was an inquiry in 2000, many of the victims' families were dissatisfied and felt justice had not been service.
The Metropolitan Police were found to be “ill-prepared” to tackle such an event too and increased safety measures were introduced on the Thames, including four new lifeboats, better tracking of river traffic and illuminated bridges.
Mum Eileen spent years campaigning for justice, even buying one share in the Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) Group, which owned the Bowbelle, so she could attend the AGM and lobby for an enquiry.
Lawrence Dallaglio said: “It was a tragedy which wasn’t really handled by the government or the people involved very well at all.
“[Initially] there was no public inquiry, which there should have been, like Hillsborough.
“All these things happened, and you kind of get a bit of anger and think, ‘why no public inquiry?
"Why are the company making £65m pre-tax profits not able to admit culpability or even support any of the families of the 51 victims that have died."
An inquiry in 2000 concluded: “The basic cause of the collision is clear… Neither vessel saw the other in time to take action to avoid the collision.”
'Man on a mission'
Lawrence described becoming “quite driven” after the passing of his sister and felt compelled to “do something that’s going to bring everyone together”.
That purpose came in the form of rugby, albeit unexpected, and he attributes a lot of the success throughout his career, believing it “definitely had a big impact”.
He explained: “I was a good sportsman at school, but rugby wasn’t my life. I certainly wasn’t destined to play for England. I didn’t even play for the 1st XV at school.
“But I became a man on a mission after I lost my sister, part of that might have just been me growing up. It’s very hard for me to understand.
“Was I successful as a result of the fact I decided to grow up, or as a result of the fact my sister died?’
Lawrence spent 18 years at London Wasps, scoring 163 points from 326 appearances, but it was his international and England Lions caps that would earn him most praise.
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The sportsman, who played flanker and number eight, captained the England rugby team and was part of the 2003 World Cup-winning squad alongside Johnny Wilkinson.
In 2016, eight years after retiring, Lawrence was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame and to this day, remains one of only 19 England players to achieve this recognition.
'Trouble everywhere'
But at times, his playing career was overshadowed by scandals in his personal life that almost cost him his relationship with Alice, who he met in 1992, two years into his career at Wasps.
The problems date back to the late Nineties when allegations of wild partying emerged, while his wife stayed at home to look after their daughters Josie and Ella.
Details of his hellraising cost him the England captaincy and led to a £15,000 fine from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for bringing the team and the game into disrepute.
It seems that their relationship and marriage never really totally got over Alice’s fling
Insider
Lawrence’s relationship weathered those tricky times, also welcoing son Enzo in 2002, but “fulfilling my rugby dreams” while Alice was a stay-at-home mum took its toll.
“Eventually, she started to feel that her life had been taken away. She and I grew apart,” he revealed in his 2007 autobiography It’s In The Blood: My Life.
'Cold & unemotional'
The relationship hit a rocky patch with may have contributed to Alice's alleged fling with his pal Leon Butler, a millionaire property developer, in 2003 - the year of Lawrence's World Cup win.
The affair came two years after the rugby ace allegedly slept with a married mum-of-one, leading to the woman divorcing her husband.
Around the time of her fling, Alice asked him to leave the family home. Lawrence reflected: “What killed me was waking up in a house that didn’t have my kids in it.”
He started seeing a counsellor, which led him to understand he had been “cold and unemotional” during their relationship and some of that stemmed from never dealing with the 1989 tragedy.
“A lot of that is down to the person you are, but a lot of it is shaped by things that happen in your life,” Lawrence said.
“When my sister died, I didn’t want to confront that and I kind of shut down. That made me colder and utterly incapable of facing my emotional problems.
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“I talked to the counsellor about never having visited my sister’s grave and what that meant.’”
The couple patched things up and tied the knot in 2005, three years after youngest child Enzo was born but Lawrence continued to carry the unresolved pain of his sister's passing with him.
In 2008, this anguish reemerged when Lawrence’s mum Eileen - who had tirelessly campaigned for justice after the Marchioness disaster - died of cancer.
“I still have good days and bad days when I miss (Francesca) enormously, just as I miss my mother as well," he said later. "But you’ve just got to deal with that and you move on. You try and take the positives away and make yourself a better person every day really.”
Brothel scandal
That, unfortunately, seemed to unravel five years ago, when it was claimed in court that the TV pundit had spent £10,000 at a London brothel known to offer £300-an-hour high-class hookers and cocaine.
The details emerged as part of a police bust at the Holborn premises, where police discovered 180,000 bank card receipts including some allegedly naming Dallaglio.
Lawrence was interviewed under caution but was never arrested and no action was taken against him. He refused to comment on the claims.
They obviously hoped they could put it all behind them – but it was something they could not completely forget
Insider
That same year he received a six-month driving ban after racking up three speeding offences in 16 months.
Then in 2023, Lawrence wound up his business after a judge ruled he would have to pay a £700,000 tax bill and agreed he would pay the debts himself.
But last year, Lawrence was pursued by liquidators over £354,000 of the debt that remained unpaid.
These troubles undoubtedly will have put pressure on the marriage and yesterday, it was reported that the couple attended Central Family Court, in Holborn, to work out a divorce settlement.
A source told the Mail: “It seems that their relationship and marriage never really totally got over Alice’s fling.
“They obviously hoped they could put it all behind them – but it was something they could not completely forget.
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“It is a great shame because they were happy together for many years, and it’s not to say that Lawrence’s own behaviour and shortcomings might have contributed to things going wrong as well.”
While this time will come as a heavy blow to Lawrence, it's clear from his ability to overcome the heartache from his past and the resilience he drew from on the rugby pitch, that he won’t be down for long and will no doubt be back on his feet again.
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