SHE’S one of the most famous Wags on the planet – but Cristiano Ronaldo’s partner Georgina Rodriguez hasn’t always lived a life of riches and luxury.
The 28-year-old Spanish model lived in a cramped, shared house and worked as a £250-a-week ($275) shop girl before a chance encounter with football legend Ronaldo transformed her life.
Now she is enjoying life on our shores, and on the big screen with her hit Netflix documentary, after the five-time Ballon d’Or winner agreed to rejoin Manchester United in a blockbuster move.
In a candid interview with ITV in 2019, Ronaldo, now 37, described finding “true love” with Georgina after the pair met for the first time at a Gucci store, where she was a sales assistant.
The Juventus star told Piers Morgan: “She helped me so much. Of course, I’m in love with her.”
Ronaldo, thought to be worth around £300million ($333m), added that it would be his mum Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro’s dream to see him and Georgina walk down the aisle.
“We’ll be [married] one day, for sure,” he said.
“It’s my mum’s dream as well. So, one day. Why not? It’s great. She’s my friend. We have conversations. I open the heart for her and she opens the heart for me.”
Georgina lives a life most of us can only dream of – holidaying in Ibiza and Iceland, wearing head-to-foot Chanel and Gucci, and enjoying her boyfriend’s mega yacht and fleet of luxury cars.
She also stood by Ronaldo after he was accused of raping a model in a Las Vegas hotel room – claims he has emphatically denied and which he will not face any criminal charges over.
But while Georgina could soon become Mrs Ronaldo, the Wag’s life used to be very different…
Grafting for goals
The beauty hails from a very humble background, growing up in the tiny village of Jaca, northern Spain, with her Argentine former footballer father, Jorge, and Spanish mother, Ana.
As a child, she longed to be a ballet dancer. But because her parents couldn’t afford to send her to dance school, Georgina set her sights on a career in fashion retail instead.
It was clear from a young age that she was ambitious and like Ronaldo – who grew up in a tin-roofed house in Madeira – she did everything in her power to chase her dreams.
Living in a cramped house share
As soon as she was old enough, Georgina moved to Huesca, a small town an hour away, where she got her first job as a waitress.
However, she soon got bored of the town, and became fed up of living in a tiny home with several other young people.
Tired of her impoverished lifestyle, Georgina moved again – this time three hours away to the seaside town of San Sebastian, where she got a job in mid-range shop, Massimo Dutti.
But despite earning more money, the draw of living the high life saw her make her next big move.
“I wanted to work in luxury and I understood that for that I had to speak English,” Georgina told XLSemanal.
Nanny in Bristol
In 2012, aged just 17, Georgina flew to England and got a job as an au pair for a family in Bristol.
Here, she focused on learning English, earning around £9.50 an hour.
Once her language skills were up to scratch, she headed back to Spain to pursue her dreams of working in high-end retail in Madrid.
“Love at first sight”
Georgina finally got her dream job as a saleswoman at Gucci in 2016 – and it was while she was working here that she caught former Real Madrid star Ronaldo’s eye.
Days later, the pair met again at another brand’s event, where they were able to “talk in a relaxed atmosphere”, outside of a work environment.
“It was love at first sight for both,” Georgina previously told the Sun on Sunday.
Hounded by fans
The couple kept their relationship under wraps for the first few months, but once people found out they were dating, football fans started turning up at Georgina’s shop.
Bosses feared the fans, who were trying to take pictures, would put off their rich clientele, and Georgina was dismissed from her dream job in December 2016 after just eight months.
Ronaldo’s contacts got her another job in Prada in El Corte Ingles, the famous Spanish department store, where she earned about £1,000 a month plus commission.
But once again, her >begged Georgina for selfies.
It wasn’t long before management and Georgina mutually agreed it was best if she left and stopped working for good.
Speaking about her experience, she told Spanish outlet, XLSemanal: “I was hiding, but fans were looking for me at the store. They used to call up and ask about me, pretending to be clients.
“There were always photographers waiting for me. The director told me to go down to the basement because he did not want to see me in the store. I started to be very uncomfortable and then I left.”
From selling Gucci to wearing it
While Georgina used to sell designer clothes to the rich and famous, she’s now wearing them herself – from £1,400 Balmain jackets and £5,000 Chanel handbags to a priceless vintage fur coat.
They were living in a gated mansion in Turin – similar to the £5 million mansion she and Ronaldo used to share in Madrid (but a far cry from the flat she once lived in with pals).
Now, they will mostly likely be house-hunting in Cheshire’s Golden Triangle for an abode fit for a king and queen.
Of course, Georgina is used to travelling in style too – jetting off in an £18 million private plane, sailing on a luxury yacht and driving sports cars like Ronaldo’s flashy Bugatti Veyron.
Since she began dating Ronaldo, Georgina has become a star in her own right, gracing the cover of various fashion magazines while amassing 27 million Instagram followers.
A lavish wedding
If Ronaldo does fulfil his dream to wed Georgina “one day”, it will likely be a very grand affair.
Wedding expert and founder of Wedding Ideas Magazine Rachel Southwood told Sun Online: “She’ll probably wear a fit and flare dress that hugs her curves and kicks out at the bottom.
“It will be slinky and sexy but demure all at the same time – probably in lace, but possibly with some extra bling.
“I think she will wear a long lace, scallop-edged veil. Something by a designer like Riki Dalal although I suspect it will be completely bespoke, from the head designer at one of the design houses she has worked with.
“Their wedding will be lavish and include a church service and a huge feast. It will be family-focused with a few big names thrown in for good measure.”
Rodriguez sparked engagement rumours last year when she showed off a huge ring in an Instagram post.
They have so far remain tight-lipped over plans but are expected to tie the knot in the near future.
Running Ronaldo’s empire
But Georgina is very keen not to be perceived as a typical WAG.
She has previously said she has no interest in just shopping and spending Ronaldo’s money – in fact she might take a more active role in managing his vast fortune.
While most women spend their pregnancies decorating the nursery, Georgina spent hers studying financial accounting at the Centre for Financial Studies in Madrid.
Her course, which started in October 2017 and finished the following March, cost her £780 and saw her attend three-hour long classes twice a week.
According to El Mundo, it included modules on tax matters, legal obligations and wealth management.
“I loved earning money for myself and I never let myself be helped when someone offered to lend me a hand,” Georgina previously said.
“I am realistic and if I see that I can buy something not too expensive I do. If I can’t wear a Chanel, I buy a Zara. Why brag about something that does not belong to you?”
Tens of millions in a divorce
When Georgina and Ronaldo eventually tie the knot, it’s unlikely the model will ever have to return to her shop girl job – even if they divorce.
Experts say all her financial worries would be taken care of in a pre-nup.
Head of Family Law in leading Manchester firm, JMW, Elspeth Kinder told Sun Online: “A prenup would make sure it provides fairly for Georgina’s needs and that of their child in the event of a divorce. It would be tens of millions – but it won’t be a half share of everything he’s got- that’s the point of the pre-nup.
“The Spanish jurisdiction in divorce is very different to here and tends to be less favourable to somebody like Georgina who comes to a marriage with less money than the other.”
Yet there’s no sign of trouble on the horizon for Ronaldo and Georgina.
“Being the partner of someone so famous is not easy but I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Georgina said. “What I feel for him is stronger than anything, any kind of pressure.”
