Steven Gerrard - Personal Life

Personal Life

Gerrard is a practising Catholic. He and his wife, fashion journalist Alex Curran, married in a Catholic ceremony at the Cliveden mansion in Buckinghamshire on 16 June 2007. He has an older brother, Paul (not to be confused with former Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard), and his cousin Anthony Gerrard plays for Huddersfield Town. Steven and Alex have three daughters, Lilly-Ella (born 23 February 2004), Lexie (9 May 2006) and Lourdes (born 2 November 2011).

In September 2006, Gerrard published his autobiography, Gerrard: My Autobiography, ghost-written by journalist Henry Winter, which went on to win the Sports Book of the Year honour at the British Book Awards.

The autobiography ends with "I play for Jon-Paul." Gerrard's cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was killed in the 1989 Hillsborough Tragedy, when Gerrard was eight. Jon-Paul, who was 10 when he died, was the youngest of the 96 victims of the tragedy."It was difficult knowing one of your cousins had lost his life", Gerrard said. "Seeing his family's reaction drove me on to become the player I am today."

On 1 October 2007, Gerrard was involved in a low-speed collision in Southport when the car he was driving hit a ten-year-old cyclist, who had shot into the street and inadvertently crossed Gerrard's path. He later visited the boy in the hospital and presented him with a pair of boots signed by Wayne Rooney, the boy's favourite player, after which he stayed to sign autographs for other young patients.

Councillors of Knowsley voted to make Gerrard a Freeman of the Borough on 13 December 2007, and two weeks later, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by The Queen in The Queen's New Year Honours List, for services to sport. He received an honorary fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University on 26 July 2008 as recognition for his contribution to sport.

On 29 December 2008, Gerrard was taken into custody outside the Lounge Inn in Southport on suspicion of a section 20 assault. He and two others were later charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray, relating to an incident which left the bar's disc jockey with a broken tooth and cuts to his forehead. The three men were given police to court bail and were required to appear at North Sefton Magistrates' Court on 23 January 2009, where they all pleaded not guilty. The case was adjourned until 20 March when the assault charge was dropped but Gerrard was required to attend Liverpool Crown Court to face trial for affray. On 3 April, Gerrard pleaded not guilty.

The case went to trial in Liverpool Crown Court. Gerrard's co-defendants pleaded guilty before the trial but Gerrard maintained his innocence. Gerrard admitted hitting Marcus McGee but claimed it was in self-defence and on 24 July, Gerrard was found not guilty by the jury. Following the verdict, Gerrard said he was looking forward to getting back to playing football and putting the experience behind him.

In 2011 Gerrard appeared in the film Will.

A newly opened hotel located in Indonesia in 2011 was named Stevie G in honour of him by the Liverpool supporting owners.