Former England and Manchester United footballer Wes Brown went from earning £50,000 a week to losing millions and going bankrupt after his divorce from his glamourous reality TV star wife.

The ex-Premier League defender spent 25 years with Real Housewives Of Cheshire cast member Leanne Brown, but she left him a year before he declared bankruptcy.

Brown, 44, has opened up how he plunged into financial turmoil after a series of bad investments - and blamed a lack of the 'right people' around him.

And he suffered more upheaval with the end of his long relationship with former stripper Leanne Brown, maiden name Wassell.

Bad property investments and a desire to keep pace with the lifestyle of team-mates earning six times as much as him have been blamed for his money woes.

Wes and Leanne Brown spent 25 years together, including 12 years of marriage, and were often featured in photos like this one shared on her Instagram account

Brown has now spoken out about his own struggles since retirement - admitting he did not have the 'right people' to guide him during his younger years. 

He told the Ben Heath Podcast: 'I think the main thing is - when you are making a lot of money, you need the right people, don't you? And I would say that's one of the things I didn't have.

'It's a long story and I won't go into the detail, but it's stuff that happened a long time ago with certain investments and getting into stuff that as a young kid, a lot of people go into - don't really understand it.

'It's what a lot of people are doing and then it came to a head last year, and that's how it went.'

His downfall has been attributed variously to his company collapsing, bad property deals and over-paying on a farm.

HMRC filed a bankruptcy petition against him in February last year and the petition was rubber-stamped out the High Court later. 

A source previously told Mail Sport: 'It may seem like Wes was earning big money - to most people he was - but the trouble was he was also trying to keep up with the lifestyle of team-mates earning five or six times more than he was.

'Most of his money disappeared in bad property deals. He overpaid on the farm that Leanne lives in.

'He spent something like £6million or £7million to buy that. They have tried to sell it but haven't managed to, even after lowering the price to £4.75million.

'Any money left is tied up in the farm. A previous property of theirs was once listed at £4.5million but took seven years to sell, finally going for £2.4million - almost half price.'

Leanne, 47, originally from Cumbria, moved to the Manchester area to train as a beautician - and that is where she met up-and-coming Red Devils defender Brown. 

She also worked for a time as a stripper, something she has been open about - saying in 2016: 'It's not a secret and it's not something I'm ashamed off.' 

The couple spent 25 years together, 12 of them married after they wed at a lavish event at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire in 2009.

His rings were delivered by an owl as part of the ceremony.

They have three daughters together - Halle, 20, 16-year-old Lilia and Lola, 12 - but are thought to have split in late 2021 and confirmed their separation the following year.

A source close to them was quoted at the time as saying: 'There were no third parties involved - it is just a sad fact that their marriage has run its course.

'Leanne has flourished in single life and has removed her wedding ring. She has told people she feels free and is working hard on her businesses and flourishing as an independent woman.

'Wes meanwhile is carrying on as best he can. There have been rumours of trouble in their marriage for a while but they put a brave face on publicly.'

Leanne herself shared on emotional message on Instagram in February 2022, appearing to refer to the aftermath of their break-up.

She posted: 'When you realise that the one relationship in your life that needs the most attention, love, kindness, respect and compassion, is the one with yourself, your life will improve dramatically.'

Brown played 362 times for Manchester United - winning the Premier League five times and the Champions League twice.

He also won 23 England caps between 1999 and 2010 and was part of manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Leanne had often appeared happy to talk about how much money they were spending during their good times together.

Her time on Real Housewives Of Cheshire showcased the £4.5million home they shared and she declared in 2019: 'Yes, we've got a lovely life and all this money.'

The mansion mansion in Prestbury had a swimming pool and an open-plan living room - yet when they put it on the market in 2016, its apparent value had plunged in six years to £2.4million.

Leanne would speak of gladly spending £2,000 on a jumpsuit, but insisted she would run certain purchases by her husband when she went 'over a certain amount'. 

She said: 'I wouldn't go and buy something without telling him if it's over a certain amount - I'm quite good like that, I phone Wes to get his permission.'

When introducing herself on Real Housewives Of Cheshire, she told viewers: 'I married a footballer, I live in a fairly big house - I would say it's worked out well.'

Her storylines included angry feuds with former friend and fellow 'WAG' Dawn Ward, who was married to another ex-Premier League player Ashley Ward. 

Leanne has also spoken about the drawbacks of being wed to a footballer and having to 'pick up their pieces'.

She told the Manchester Evening News in 2019: 'Yes, we've got a lovely life and all this money - and I'm not saying the money isn't great - but when you're in it, you're living in this bubble.

'Although the fans can be amazing, they can also be very cruel - it must be hard [for players] to deal with, to be on top one minute and hated the next for a bad kick or missing the goal.

'We are the ones that are left to pick up the pieces and bear the brunt of whatever is left at the end of their careers.

'Sometimes it's hard being alone a lot - the lads are away a lot, especially if involved in a high-profile club and England international too.'

Brown was not averse to splashing the cash himself, as the new interview indicates.

In 2007 he was spotted parking his £100,000 Bentley Continental on double yellow lines, while his car collection also featured a Range Rover, an Audi and a Porsche.

But the end of his football career in 2018, after a spell with Indian Super League Club Kerala Blasters, evidently hit him hard - as Leanne seemed to have predicted. 

She was part of support group LifeStyled club, an exclusive community for the partners of professional football players founded in 2016.

In one post she shared on their Instagram account, she wrote: 'When it comes to life after football, ask questions about the future.

'If your husband's anything like mine, they don't want to admit it's going to happen and want to play forever, but unfortunately they will have to hang up their boots eventually.

She has also spoken of her own heartache over suffering a miscarriage when the couple were trying for a son.

Leanne told OK! magazine in July 2016: ‘After Lola we tried for a couple of years for another one, but I had an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage, so it came to the point where I decided it wasn’t meant to happen.

‘Then six months later I got pregnant again - they found a heartbeat and asked me to go back, but I didn’t want to go back until I was 12 weeks.

'I convinced myself I was pregnant, but I went back and they said: "I’m sorry, it’s not grown."'

She faced criticism from some on social media for using her Instagram account to post anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine messages.

She later closed that one down and set up a new one devoted to wellness.

Brown is only now speaking publicly about his financial woes, though his ex-wife discussed them last year - saying:  'People have this perception of your life because your husband plays football and you have all this money coming in, but people have no idea where that money's going.

'They have no idea of what's going on behind close doors, where you're investing that money, who relies on you to provide for them and who's taking advantage of you because that's exactly what happened with us.

'There was such a struggle going on there for many years with us but nobody would be aware of that.'