Gary Lineker has called for the divorce process to be simplified with a “mathematical equation” for the splitting of assets between former spouses, following his recent divorce from his second wife.

The 55 year old presenter and former England footballer has recently experienced the disintegration of his second marriage to model Danielle Bux, 19 years his junior. Announcing their split at the start of 2016, they said they were using a government website to streamline the process at a cost of just £400 after his previous experience with divorce lawyers.

Gary LinekerGary Lineker and Danielle Bux in 2014

Lineker had split from his first wife Michelle Cockayne, the mother of his four sons, in 2006, and says in a new interview that he learned from that experience that lawyers “manipulate” the situation to stir up mutual hatred among warring spouses in order to boost their fees.

Speaking to the Radio Times, he said: “Just generally speaking, it’s very easy to get married and very difficult to get divorced. And we know that lawyers try to manipulate it to make you spend more money and basically end up hating each other.”

He also proposed a one-size-fits-all rule to prevent the high cost of such divorces. “I think there should be a mathematical equation that goes straight to the courts and they sort it out.”

Following his comments, the Daily Mail jumped on the story and published a story on their front cover on Tuesday (April 26th) with the headline ‘Linker cries foul over cost of divorce’. He took to Twitter later the same day to call it an “outrageously misleading” headline, and that he was referring to the cost of divorce in general and not the specifics of his own.

It was claimed at the time of their split that 36 year old Danielle wanted to start another family with Lineker, and that he didn’t. She already had a 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship, but reports suggested she was ‘desperate’ for another baby.

They were married for six years, and claimed via Twitter that they would remain good friends despite their split. “Thank you all for your kind words. @DanielleBux and I had many wonderful years together. We remain very close and the greatest of friends,” he tweeted in January.

More: Gary Lineker and Danielle Bux divorcing because he doesn’t want to start another family