A football legend’s story doesn’t always end with a trophy or the crowd going crazy. Most of the most telling parts of the story take place off the field, in the middle of someone’s real life. Many people know Ian Rush as one of the best strikers Wales and Liverpool have ever had. In 2012, his 25-year marriage ended and a new relationship quietly took root.
Carol Anthony is at the center of it all. She is an Irish singer and model from Cork who has worked in the music business for ten years. She goes by the name Havana when she performs. The British tabloids were not nice when they first wrote about the story that summer. Anthony was seen as the reason Rush’s long-term marriage had ended, which is a common story that is both oversimplified and unfair. That day, Rush was 51 years old. He was 30 years old. The press reported that there was a 22-year age gap between them, but sometimes they got it wrong and said it was only 16.
Anthony finally fought back. She told the Irish Independent that the tone and the fact that the story was wrong made her angry. She said, “They took another six years out of my life,” giving the clear example of her parents’ 13-year age difference. It’s a small thing, but it says something about how quickly people find a story that fits and how little time the person in the story sometimes has to talk.
When she finally spoke, what she talked about was less dramatic than the story that was being written about her. She said that Rush was sincere, friendly, and quiet. She liked the little things, like listening, holding doors, and carrying bags. She told the media that she was about to have a breakdown because of stress and drinking too much wine. Rush showed up without being asked. This kind of detail is often missed in tabloid stories, but it’s likely the most telling thing about how a relationship really works.
Anthony’s own story has been going on at the same time as all of this. She used to be an artist for Universal Records and had three top-20 hits. She shared the stage with Westlife and Elton John. An accident while horseback riding put a stop to her career and made her rethink it. When she met Rush, she was starting over. She had new management through Simon Napier-Bell, new music ready to sell in Germany and South America, and an RTÉ reality TV show in the works. She wasn’t just walking into the zone of a football player. She was in her own world.
For his part, Rush has never really stopped playing football, even though he is retired. He works as the Elite Performance Director for the Welsh Football Trust, is on the advisory board for the Football Association of Wales, and is the chief club ambassador for Liverpool. He is 64 years old. The game is still very important to him. But in 2022, he told WalesOnline that he “couldn’t be happier” because his two sons were healthy and he and Anthony had built a new house together.
There’s something interesting about that picture: a man who won 18 trophies at Liverpool, scored 346 goals for one of football’s best teams, and earned 73 caps for Wales chose to build a house with someone in retirement and think that was the best part. It’s not exciting. It most likely shouldn’t be.
Last year, it was said that the couple was thinking about getting married in the south of France in the summer. They still don’t know for sure if it happened. The situation is still not clear, and maybe it doesn’t matter to anyone. It is clear that they have found something that works for them after a rough and public start. They are away from the noise and building a life together in peace.
