The former footballer Gianluca Vialli, who died of cancer, leaves behind his wife and former model Cathryn, and daughters Olivia and Sofia. What is known about them
Gianluca Vialli, who died on January 6, had returned to London three weeks ago to start a new cycle of treatments, faced with the worsening of his conditions due to pancreatic cancer that he had been diagnosed with five years ago, in 2017. His family also lives in London who, like him, have made discretion a lifestyle.
In the capital of the United Kingdom, now, his wife is closed in their mourning, Cathryn White Cooper, and daughters Olivia and Sofia. With Cathryn they had known over 20 years when the former footballer played for Chelsea.
Who is wife Cathryn
Between Gianluca Vialli and Cathryn it had been love at first sight, since 1998: they were then married in 2003 and from that union the daughters were born, whose age is not even known, due to the way their parents tried to protect them from notoriety and from the paparazzi.
He is a football phenomenon, she is an interior decorator, but with a career in modeling behind them, they remained a close-knit couple until the end and she never left himnot even in the most delicate moments of the tough battle against pancreatic cancer, diagnosed in 2017 and which had made him lose up to 16 kilos, as well as hair and beard.
To hide the signs of the disease he had even come to wear a sweater under his shirt.
A close-knit couple away from the spotlight
That close-knit couple was characterized by the same discretion and the desire to keep themselves away from the spotlight as much as possible. Not by chance in an interview with Vanity Fair he had said that he was warmly welcomed in his wife’s country, although originally from South Africa: “No one passes me in line, the politicians resign, there is an outstanding school system and lots of sports to do and see».
His wife (whose years are not known), therefore, had abandoned her modeling career to devote herself to a job that kept her away from catwalks and paparazzi, and which also left her time to be close to her daughters.
Daughters Olivia and Sofia
Vialli himself had spoken of the daughters, in his usual sober style, recalling the first chemotherapy and the way in which Olivia and Sofia had experienced their father’s illness, supporting him: «They helped me by drawing my eyebrows» Vialli had said in 2020 to The Timesadding: «I even asked my wife what tricks to use. We laughed, you have to laugh, you need to find the funny side, but there were also days where I locked myself in the bathroom to cry.”
Precisely for his daughters and his wife, the former champion (on and off the football fields) had found new and additional strength to fight, like “a lion”, as his closest friends, such as Roberto Mancini, have always said. Interviewed by Alessandro Cattelan in his docu-series on Netflix A Simple QuestionGianluca Vialli had defined cancer as “a phase of life, a traveling companion», but above all he hadn’t done without talking about his family: «Today I know that I have a duty to behave in a certain way towards people, towards my wife, towards my daughters, because I don’t know how long I will live. So you have this opportunity to write the letters and sort things out.”
Also far from social media, now it is they – wife and daughters, together with their 87-year-old mother – who perhaps feel the duty to continue to behave in the “kind” way that Gianluca Vialli taught them, experiencing pain in a private way and treasuring his example.
