Former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio has spoken publicly for the first time about how he sought therapy after retreating into "self-pity" and "hibernation" following the breakdown of his marriage and subsequent bankruptcy. The 2003 World Cup winner, 54, split from his wife of nearly 20 years, model Alice, last year, with the divorce becoming public when the couple were photographed at Central Family Court in London; he was declared bankrupt just a day after their Richmond family home sold for £2.4 million.

Speaking on The High Performance podcast, Dallaglio said he had withdrawn into his shell despite normally being an "extrovert, confident, bubbly individual", and admitted he initially fell into denial and questioning why so much had gone wrong. His company, Lawrence Dallaglio Limited, entered voluntary liquidation in 2023 after an HMRC winding-up petition, and he was later found to owe a total of £423,570, including an overdrawn directors' loan of more than £366,500. He said the combined weight of the divorce, financial pressure and the death of his father Vincenzo, aged 91, last year forced him to confront how badly he was struggling, though he acknowledged "much of it was my own doing".