Inside Pep’s 35-year marriage with ‘most beautiful woman on the planet’ & how ‘losing the passion’ lead to secret split

HE was with her from the age of 18 and has described her as the “most beautiful woman on the planet”, but Pep Guardiola’s marriage was crumbling behind the scenes long before he announced his split. The Man City boss, 55, who’s been with the club since 2016, is expected to speak about his marriage breakdown on A Beautiful Obsession, a four-part series dropping on Amazon Prime tomorrow. Pep Guardiola and his then-wife Cristina Serra shared a public kiss when Man City won the 2023 Champions League final against FC Internazionale Credit: Getty The couple continued to put on a united front, going to Wimbledon in July 2024 with their eldest daughter Maria, pictured left Credit: Getty In a sweary rant shown in the preview, following a 2-0 Champions League loss to Juventus, he told his team: “Guys – I want to confess something. “I’m f***ing divorced from the most beautiful woman on your planet. It’s my wife – my ex-wife. I love her unbelievably. But we lost the passion. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! “For many reasons, we lost the passion. I love her absolutely. She loves me, yeah, but we lost the passion. And it’s how you play football. You play because of something inside — but where is the passion?” Pep split from Cristina Serra, 54, in December 2024. They had been married 10 years, but their romance spanned more than three decades. Cristina runs a fashion store and also largely raised their three children Credit: Alamy Pictured in 2013, the couple were childhood sweethearts but didn’t marry until 2014 Credit: Alamy They are parents to Maria and Marius, who are in their 20s, and Valentina, who is a teenager. Their relationship began when an 18-year-old Pep went to a fashion store in Barcelona owned by Cristina’s family, to model some outfits by Spanish designer Antonio Miro. Back then, Pep was playing for Barcelona’s B team, while she was an actress who had appeared on Spanish TV. Pep’s sister Francesca once recalled: “He was very handsome, a good student, always getting good marks. The teachers drooled over him, he was already seductive when he was little.” Most read in Sport Cristina gave up acting to concentrate on her clothing business and is now said to be worth more than £30million. Meanwhile, Pep established himself as one of the best midfielders of his generation, winning multiple titles with Barcelona’s first team, before launching one of the most successful managerial careers of all time. Pep always credited his wife with his great sense of fashion and for bringing up his children. She moved with him to Manchester when he joined City, with the couple taking up residence in a luxury block in Salford. Cristina was so important to the Spaniard that he even refused to join any team without her say-so. In a rare personal interview in 2018, he said: “Only at home I feel safe. “I mean safe in terms of not being observed. I close the door and I feel safe. My job is demanding a lot. Cristina is an incredible woman, not just an incredible mother. “If we were talking about moving to New York, Munich and here, if she decides not to come, I won’t come. The glamorous couple pictured with their children in 2011 Credit: Rex The dad-of-three on a family holiday in Egypt in 2024 Credit: Supplied “I will not be here, I cannot be alone in this kind of job without my family.” But cracks started to show in 2019, when Cristina returned to Barcelona with their youngest child Valentina, while Pep stayed in Manchester. She had been unable to settle in the North West and yearned to be close to the Catalan capital. While they put on a united front on holidays and at Wimbledon, in private, their recent long-distance relationship was becoming increasingly unsustainable. Their split was announced in January 2025 however Spanish property documents — obtained by The Sun — showed the couple were dividing their assets much earlier. Pep became the sole owner of their £8.5million family home, in the Barcelona suburb of Pedralbes, on October 7, 2024. A source told The Sun last year: “Pep and Cristina had long been living separate lives. “She was unable to settle in Manchester and returned to Spain but they appeared, on the surface at least, to make it work. “When they announced they were separating in January, his decision to sign a new contract at Manchester City was conveniently blamed. “It may well have been the final straw, but they appear to have decided to end it much earlier than anyone knew or realised. “They were already starting to part ways before he put pen to paper on his new deal.” Another source said: “They were dividing assets long before all but their closest circle had a hint anything was amiss. The family, pictured in 2018, always supported Pep’s professional achievements Credit: PA:Press Association Pep admitted he and his wife lost the ‘passion’ Credit: Getty “It tells you a lot about when minds were made up.” Meanwhile, Cristina made a fresh start of her own, buying a luxury rooftop duplex near one of Barcelona’s most famous streets, La Rambla. Cristina purchased the sprawling three-bedroom, five-bathroom pad in September 2025, with well-placed sources saying she paid just under £3million for it. The apartment is a mere two minutes from the family-owned Serra Claret designer fashion store she runs. A source said at the time: “All the talk has been about Pep buying himself a bachelor pad. “But the fact Cristina has bought her own place in the city centre and he has become the sole owner of the old family home points to her being the one that will do the moving.” Another insider added: “The likely scenario for the future will involve Cristina moving nearer her place of work and Pep using the villa as his main base when he’s back in town unless he decides to rent it out and opt for somewhere smaller.” Comment now