Friday 27 May 2022 06:16 PM A look back at Andy Carroll and Billi Mucklow's nine year romance trends now
After a year of remaining onside, Andy Carroll was given a red card on Friday after he was pictured asleep next to a blonde barmaid while holidaying in Dubai - weeks before his planned wedding to Billi Mucklow.
The injury prone footballer's long-term future with the former TOWIE cast-member is now shrouded in uncertainty, with the damning selfie fraying what had appeared to be a rock solid nine-year relationship.
With his towering frame, Andy, 33, had already established himself as a talented striker for boyhood club Newcastle United before confirming his relationship with TV personality Billi, 34, in 2014.
Long-term: Andy Carroll has been loved up with Billi Mucklow for nine years, with the pair getting engaged in 2014 and finally preparing to tie the knot next month
Billi shot to fame on reality star TOWIE in 2011, but quit reality TV two years later to run a Bikram yoga studio in Essex.
She started dating the sportstar in the summer of 2013 but they kept their relationship under wraps until the following February.
It would prove to be a transformative period for the footballer - by then on loan at London club West Ham United after moving from Newcastle to Liverpool in a £35million deal.
With Billi's stabilising influence playing a significant role, the boisterous off-field antics that threatened to overshadow a career already hampered by a catalogue of injuries were curtailed.
Snapped: But pictures emerged this week showing the West Brom forward - once Premier League side Liverpool's most expensive transfer - on a bed with blonde bar manager Taylor Wilke - on Wednesday night
Indeed, the nightclub brawls, boozy nights out and off field assault allegations soon became consigned to memory as Andy underwent something of a rebrand - a change owed in no small part to his partner.
Speaking in 2019, the footballer credited Billi for helping him change his lifestyle.
'I've got no doubt that I was daft when I was here, and no doubt that I was daft for a couple of years after as well,' he told nufc.co.uk.
'But I met my missus, and we've got four kids living at home now, we've got animals, we've got responsibilities. There's no more behaviour like it was, you know. I was stupid, I was young, and I was carried away with the lifestyle that I had.
'Now it's completely different. I'm actually a dad, I've grown up, and got responsibilities, so… I've got a purpose.'
Happy family: Billi and Andy share sons Arlo, six and Wolf, four and daughter Marvel, 15 months alongside Andy's children Emilie Rose, 12, and Lucas, 11, from a previous relationship
Bride-to-be: The pair have seemingly been in high spirits as they prepare for their big day, before the pictures in Dubai were released
Way back: The pair have been together for around nine years, and have been waiting out a hefty engagement since 2014
Billi and Andy welcomed the first of the two children which they share, son Arlo, now six, in June 2015, with the couple confirming the news on social media shortly afterwards.
Their second child, son Wolf, arrived two years later in November 2017, making Andy - already a parent to daughter Emilie, 11, and son Lucas, nine, from a former relationship - a father-of-four.
It would be Billi's third child. The former TOWIE star also shares daughter Penelope Blu with ex-boyfriend Daniel Harris.
The couple's wedding, now in doubt, had been a long time coming, with Billi admitting they had originally planned to exchange vows in the summer of 2015.
Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: 'I wanted to spend a few months enjoying Arlo as a baby before we started
