The wife of a former Manchester United player says she spent years hating her lavish Cheshire lifestyle but felt unable to complain because ‘rich people aren’t supposed to have problems’.
Danielle Gibson, 36, was raised by a single mother in a tenth floor flat in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and met her footballer husband Darron when she was a teenager.
But after being catapulted into a life of fortune and fame, mother-of-two Danielle claims she ‘didn’t feel thankful or grateful of any of it’ and wanted to return to a simpler life.
Speaking at an event marking International Women’s Day in Manchester, Danielle admitted she felt she had ‘no right to complain’ while living in a ‘big house in Bowdon’ with two kids in private school.
‘It still feels tricky sat here in my designer outfit saying this, but I want to be honest and say that there have been years and years where I didn’t feel thankful or grateful of any of it – I just wanted to be Danielle from Wythenshawe’, she said, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Danielle Gibson, 36, pictured in 2013, says she spent years hating her lavish Cheshire lifestyle but felt unable to complain because ‘rich people aren’t supposed to have problems’
Therapist Danielle was raised by a single mother in a tenth floor flat in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and met her footballer husband Darron when she was a teenager. She is pictured with her husband in 2011
Trained psychotherapist Danielle grew up in a working class home in south Manchester, recalling watching her mother ‘struggling up and down the stairs with shopping bags’ as a child.
Irish-born footballer Darron made his football debut with Manchester United in 2005 and joined Everton in January 2012 where reportedly earned a wage of £35,000 per week.
Danielle met Darron at the age of 16 and after tying the knot in 2013, she was plunged into a world of swanky events, designer outfits and travelling around the globe.
However shortly after her husband joined Everton, the midfielder tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a match in Dublin and was forced to undergo surgery.
Danielle now plans to launch her own psychotherapy business and says that while it was a ‘relief’ when her husband retired last year, she is a ‘very proud wife for everything that he has achieved in his career’
Danielle, who was pregnant with her second child at the time, recalled the horror of watching her husband face a potentially career-ending injury on live television with no ability to help.
She says the injury was so bad they would later have to shave his thigh muscle and create two new ligaments behind his knee.
As he recovered, Darron would spend the majority of his day confined to bed, having to sleep downstairs in a metal cast and spent the next 12 months with Danielle helping him wash and go to the toilet.
In the years following his injury, Danielle says her husband continued to face various ailments, surgeries and long recovery periods – and couldn’t help but read the swathe of nasty comments about his proneness to injury.
She said she couldn’t help thinking about friends’ husbands who worked as builders or in a call centre, and said she envied how they could live a normal life.
‘I didn’t feel like I could tell anyone how difficult life was feeling. So I put up and shut up’, she said.
In September 2015, Darron was banned from driving for 20 months and sentenced to a 12-month community order after pleading guilty to drink-driving, careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident after he crashed into three cyclists.
Irish-born footballer Darron made his football debut with Manchester United in 2005 and joined Everton in In January 2012
Danielle and her husband are pictured arriving for the world premiere of Amazon Prime Video’s Rooney in February
In July 2017, Darron joined Sunderland which meant moving away from the family home – leaving Danielle feeling increasingly overwhelmed as the mum to two young children.
Shortly after joining Sunderland for a reported £35,000 per week, Darron was caught on video camera in a hotel bar branding his team ‘s***’ – with the infamous rant featuring in the opening episode of recent Netflix docu-series ‘Sunderland ‘Till I Die’.
Less than a year later, Sunderland terminated Darron’s contract as he pleaded guilty to drink-driving – something Danielle believes to be a turning point for the couple.
The midfielder was found to be three times over the limit after clipping a taxi and then driving on for several miles before crashing his Mercedes 4×4 into several parked cars while on his way to Sunderland’s training ground on St Patrick’s Day in March 2018.
Darron received a community service order, but Danielle says the incident ‘ultimately saved [her] family’ by inspiring her to spend the past five years training as a therapist.
She said that after years of important decisions being placed in the hands of managers and agents, she wanted to take back control of her life.
After qualifying as a therapist, Danielle has spent the past year working with female prison inmates carrying a life sentence and helping people to address substance abuse issues.
She plans to launch her own psychotherapy business The Heard Hub in September and says that while it was a ‘relief’ when her husband retired last year, she is a ‘very proud wife for everything that he has achieved in his career.’
