Alex Best is a British former air stewardess, model, television personality and author who became widely known through her marriage to football legend George Best, while later building a public identity through television, publishing and personal appearances.
Quick Bio
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Alexandra Jane Pursey |
| Known As | Alex Best |
| Profession | Former air stewardess, model, television personality and author |
| Nationality | British |
| Birthplace | Leicestershire, England |
| Birth Year | 1972 |
| Date of Birth | 29 January 1972 |
| Education | No reliable public record clearly documents her formal education |
| Spouse | George Best, married 1995–2004 |
| Children with George Best | None |
| Known For | Marriage to George Best, television appearances, modelling and autobiographical books |
| Relationship to George Best | Second wife and later ex-wife |
| Books | Always Alex: My Story and Loving George |
| Television | I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and other television appearances |
| Public Recognition | 2004 Rear of the Year winner and reality-TV personality |
Public biographical records identify Alex Best’s birth name as Alexandra Jane Pursey, with a birth date of 29 January 1972 and Leicestershire as her birthplace. The same records identify her occupations as model and author and document her marriage to George Best from 24 July 1995 until 14 April 2004.
Who Is Alex Best?
Alex Best is best known as George Best’s second wife, but describing her only through that relationship leaves out much of her own public career. Before her marriage to the celebrated Northern Irish footballer, she worked as an airline cabin attendant, and contemporary reporting from the late 1990s described her accompanying George on his professional speaking engagements and helping with aspects of his working life. The Irish Times reported that Alex accompanied George as his personal assistant while he travelled internationally for public-speaking work. Later, she became a recognisable television personality in her own right, appearing on reality television and building a public profile around modelling, presenting and publishing. Her book Always Alex: My Story, published by John Blake in 2005, presented her life as a journey from air stewardess to public figure and model, while also examining the difficult years of her marriage to George.
Background in Television and Media
Alex Best’s media career developed alongside the intense public interest surrounding her marriage, eventually giving her a platform separate from football. One of her most visible appearances came in 2004 when she participated in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, becoming part of the programme’s celebrity cast and gaining additional recognition with television audiences. Her public profile also extended into modelling and entertainment events, and contemporary coverage identified her as a former I’m a Celebrity contestant when she won the female Rear of the Year award in May 2004. The Irish Examiner reported that Alex and radio personality Aled Haydn-Jones received that year’s awards. Her publishing career added another dimension to her public identity: Always Alex: My Story appeared in 2005, followed by Loving George in 2006, giving readers Alex’s own perspective on the relationship that had made her a familiar name in British celebrity culture.
Marriage or Relationship with George Best
Alex Best married George Best on 24 July 1995 at the register office in Kensington and Chelsea, London, when she was 23 and working as an air stewardess while George was 49. Their age difference was approximately 26 years by their birth dates, although contemporary reporting sometimes described it differently because of the dates used in individual accounts. The marriage attracted enormous attention because George was already one of football’s most famous figures and was also dealing with a long-running struggle with alcohol. Alex became closely associated with his life away from the football pitch, accompanying him to professional engagements and speaking publicly about the difficulties caused by his drinking. Their relationship was not simply a conventional celebrity marriage: George’s health, alcoholism and repeated relapses placed considerable strain on their home life. In April 2004, the couple divorced after Alex petitioned on the grounds of adultery, which George admitted in the divorce proceedings. Contemporary reporting recorded that they had stopped living together after November 2003.
Parenthood and Family Life
Alex Best and George Best did not have children together, a detail that is sometimes confused online because George had a son, Calum Best, from his earlier marriage to Angie Best. Calum was born in 1981, many years before George married Alex, and therefore was not Alex’s biological child. Nevertheless, Alex was present during some difficult periods in Calum’s childhood. A later account based on Calum’s memoir described an incident when Calum was about 14 and was playing cards with Alex while waiting for George to return home. The episode illustrates how Alex was involved in the domestic environment surrounding George and his son, although it also reflected the destructive effects of George’s alcohol dependency and the tensions inside the family. Information about Alex’s own parents and wider childhood family is much harder to establish. Reliable public biographical sources confirm her birth name and Leicestershire birthplace but do not provide sufficiently verified names and occupations for her mother and father, so claims about her parents should not be presented as established fact.
Supporting Through George Best’s Alcoholism and Health Problems
One of the most significant parts of Alex Best’s public story was the period in which she lived alongside George’s severe alcohol dependency. In a 2001 interview, Alex spoke openly about the problem and described alcoholism as an illness, while explaining that George’s repeated drinking episodes were extremely difficult for both of them. She also identified the after-dinner speaking circuit as a particularly difficult environment because alcohol was frequently present and could become a temptation for someone trying to remain sober. George had already suffered serious liver damage before their divorce and subsequently underwent a liver transplant in July 2002. The Dictionary of Irish Biography records that he had spent weeks in hospital with severe liver problems in 2000 before receiving the transplant two years later. Alex’s public comments during these years provide an important first-hand perspective on the human side of George’s illness, but it is more accurate to say that she supported and spoke about him during this period than to make unsupported claims about every aspect of his medical care. Reports from 2003 also documented the severe strain caused by his return to drinking after the transplant.
Life After George Best
Alex Best’s life changed substantially after the 2004 divorce, although her connection with George remained part of her public identity. George died on 25 November 2005 at the age of 59 after years of alcohol-related health problems, roughly 19 months after their divorce. Alex subsequently used her own experiences as the basis for autobiographical publishing, with Always Alex: My Story appearing in 2005 and Loving George following in 2006. She also continued to make occasional television appearances. One of the more unusual later chapters came with Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted, where Alex appeared in the first season of the programme. The episode centred on her claims of unexplained activity in her home, including objects allegedly moving and other experiences that she associated with a possible presence. The programme presented these as a paranormal investigation rather than established supernatural fact. This became another example of Alex’s ability to attract public interest long after her marriage to George had ended.
Career Highlights and Public Recognition
Alex Best’s career is unusual because it developed across several different areas rather than following a single professional path. Her early work as an airline cabin attendant preceded her rise into celebrity culture, while modelling and public appearances helped establish her as a recognisable personality. Her marriage to George Best brought intense media attention, but her subsequent participation in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! gave audiences an opportunity to see her outside the role of a footballer’s wife. Her 2004 Rear of the Year win became another widely reported moment in that period, with contemporary coverage confirming that she won the female award alongside Aled Haydn-Jones. Publishing was arguably the most personal part of her career because it allowed Alex to tell her own story rather than relying entirely on newspaper accounts. Always Alex: My Story was published by John Blake in 2005 and runs to 279 pages, while Loving George followed the next year. More recently, Alex has continued to appear in media coverage connected with George Best and her own life. In 2025, she spoke publicly about George’s legacy and argued that Belfast City Airport should retain his name despite renewed discussion surrounding allegations about his behaviour.
Why People Search for Alex Best
Search interest in Alex Best is largely connected to several overlapping stories: her identity as George Best’s ex-wife, her role during one of the most difficult periods of the footballer’s life, her television career and her own autobiographical account of their marriage. People also search for Alexandra Jane Pursey because that is the birth name associated with Alex Best in authoritative biographical records. Other searches focus on whether Alex and George had children, what Alex did before becoming famous, what happened after their divorce and whether she remained connected to George’s family. Her unusual television appearances have also contributed to continued interest, particularly her participation in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and the later paranormal television episode. More recent coverage has shown that Alex’s connection to George Best remains relevant decades after their relationship ended, but her story is broader than the label of “George Best’s ex-wife”: she was an air stewardess before fame, developed a career in modelling and television, became an author and continued to speak publicly about experiences that shaped her life.
Privacy, Accuracy and Public Information
There are important limits to what can responsibly be stated about Alex Best’s private life. Public sources provide useful information about her birth, career, marriage, divorce, books and television appearances, but they do not establish every detail commonly repeated on biography websites. In particular, reliable sources located for this article do not adequately document the names and occupations of Alex’s parents or provide a complete account of her childhood and education. Those details should therefore be described as publicly undisclosed rather than filled in from unsourced genealogy claims. Similarly, references to her later residence should be treated cautiously because a person’s exact home address is private information; recent reporting has broadly associated Alex with Surrey, but there is no need to publish a precise location. The same principle applies to claims about paranormal experiences: Alex has appeared on television discussing alleged activity, but those claims should be presented as her reported experiences rather than verified supernatural events. This distinction between documented fact, personal testimony and entertainment content is important when writing an accurate biography.
Conclusion
Alex Best’s story is more complex than her familiar description as George Best’s ex-wife. Born Alexandra Jane Pursey in Leicestershire in 1972, she began her working life as an airline cabin attendant before entering modelling and the wider world of celebrity media. Her 1995 marriage to George Best placed her beside one of football’s most famous and troubled personalities, and she became a public witness to the effects of his alcoholism and serious health problems. Their divorce in 2004 ended the marriage, but Alex subsequently developed her own public identity through television, modelling and two autobiographical books. Her appearance on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, her 2004 Rear of the Year recognition and her later television appearances show that her career did not end with the relationship. Her continued comments about George’s legacy, together with the gaps in publicly documented information about her own early family life, explain why interest in Alex Best continues. The most reliable picture is therefore one of a former air stewardess who became a model, television personality and author while navigating an unusually public marriage and its aftermath.
Also read: Michael Charles Gosselaar: The Private Life of Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s Son
FAQs
Who is Alex Best?
Alex Best is a British former air stewardess, model, television personality and author best known for marrying football legend George Best in 1995.
What was Alex Best’s real name?
Alex Best’s birth name is Alexandra Jane Pursey. Public biographical records list her birth date as 29 January 1972 in Leicestershire, England.
When did Alex Best marry George Best?
Alex Best married George Best on 24 July 1995 in Kensington and Chelsea, London. They divorced on 14 April 2004 after nearly nine years.
Did Alex Best and George Best have children?
No. Alex and George Best did not have children together. George’s son, Calum Best, was born during his earlier marriage to Angie Best.
What did Alex Best do before becoming famous?
Before becoming publicly known, Alex Best worked as an airline cabin attendant. She later developed careers involving modelling, television appearances and publishing.
Did Alex Best write books about George Best?
Yes. Alex Best wrote Always Alex: My Story, published in 2005, and Loving George, published in 2006, both reflecting her personal experiences.
