{"id":875054,"date":"2026-08-31T13:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875054\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T13:40:10","slug":"aussie-icon-61-reveals-surprise-engagement-nearly-40-years-after-career-high-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875054\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie icon, 61, reveals \u2018surprise\u2019 engagement nearly 40 years after career-high moment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aussie tennis legend Pat Cash has revealed he is engaged to \u201csoulmate\u201d Charlotte Hodson.<\/p>\n<p>The Melbourne-born star, 61, famously triumphed at Wimbledon in 1987 with a straight sets win over World No. 1 Ivan Lendl.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, he attended Wimbledon alongside Charlotte, 54, as the couple went public for the first time in the royal box.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the biggest Aussie sports &amp; the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/home?extcamp=ncaeditoriallinkgeneric-edt-new-lnk-awr-grc-grc-kyo&amp;channel=nca&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now Cash has taken to social media to confirm his engagement to the singer-songwriter and massage therapist.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DcroAT3IKXA\/?hl=en\" title=\"www.instagram.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>, he said: \u201cEvery now and then, life can surprise you in the very best way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so incredibly lucky to know that through an amazing string of coincidences I found my soulmate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t help but believe God had it all planned to perfection. She said yes,\u201d followed by engagement ring and heart emojis.<\/p>\n<p>Cash had two children \u2014 a son and daughter \u2014 with Norwegian model Anne-Britt Kristiansen in his early 20s.<\/p>\n<p>He married Brazilian Emily Bendit in 1990 and had twin boys, before the couple divorced in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, he became a grandfather at the age of 44 when his daughter gave birth.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/ab0354329f7f1493d7e414c7ca02bbe0\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Djokovic cooked after dropping first set \" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Four year later, he opened up about his struggles with mental health, and revealed his children saved his life.<\/p>\n<p>He told The Guardian: \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for my kids, I might have killed myself. I suffered from severe depression from the age of 19 until 35.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s no secret I experimented with drugs when I was younger, but the real issue was why I felt the need to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was down to the stress I was under playing for my country, the expectations I put on myself and the expectations people put on me. I ended up checking into rehab for depression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThings got better when I retired from playing professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read related topics:<a class=\"topic_tag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/topics\/melbourne\" data-tgev-container=\"story-topic-links\" data-tgev-label=\"Melbourne\" data-tgev-order=\"1\" data-tgev-metric=\"npv\" data-tgev=\"event10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Melbourne<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie tennis legend Pat Cash has revealed he is engaged to \u201csoulmate\u201d Charlotte Hodson. The Melbourne-born star, 61,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[10025,343850,349509,414133,201369,202613,92590,129887,378613,444480,444479,444056,64,428121,444490,444484,63,444477,444485,444487,8879,447,73337,444489,444057,4830,1730,22714,444481,134,287311,378590,380106,444476,421790,444483,392401,444478,1202,444474,62756,377208,45755,8280,514,444066,403913,444040,411803,444060,382196,12625,170618,180389,53645,1314,286994,7819,146596,381352,382194,378599,406208,444061,376549,79741,444491,444475,376541,404617,444488,444482,377899,444054,444050,153160,379345,749,444486,1547,100843,377211],"class_list":["post-875054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-10025","tag-343850","tag-349509","tag-414133","tag-201369","tag-202613","tag-92590","tag-129887","tag-a-grandfather","tag-a-son-and-daughter","tag-a-straight-sets","tag-an-amazing-string","tag-au","tag-aussie-icon","tag-aussie-sporting-icon","tag-aussie-tennis-legend-pat-cash","tag-australia","tag-birth-four-year","tag-brazilian-emily-bendit","tag-career-high-moment","tag-cash","tag-celebrities","tag-charlotte","tag-charlotte-hodson","tag-coincidences","tag-depression","tag-drugs","tag-engagement","tag-engagement-ring-and-heart-emojis-cash","tag-entertainment","tag-god","tag-his-children","tag-his-daughter","tag-his-early-20s-he","tag-his-engagement","tag-his-life-he","tag-his-partner","tag-his-struggles","tag-instagram","tag-just-1-now","tag-kayo","tag-kayo-sports-new","tag-last-year","tag-life","tag-mental-health","tag-my-country","tag-my-kids","tag-my-soulmate","tag-nearly-40-years","tag-norwegian-model-anne-britt-kristiansen","tag-overseas-live","tag-perfection","tag-rehab","tag-severe-depression","tag-singer","tag-social-media","tag-soulmate","tag-surprise","tag-the-age","tag-the-best","tag-the-biggest-aussie-sports","tag-the-couple","tag-the-expectations","tag-the-expectations-people","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-guardian","tag-the-melbourne-born-sporting-legend","tag-the-melbourne-born-star","tag-the-need","tag-the-real-issue","tag-the-royal-box-watch","tag-the-singer-songwriter-and-massage-therapist-speaking","tag-the-songwriter","tag-the-stress","tag-the-very-best-way","tag-twin-boys","tag-two-children","tag-wimbledon","tag-world-no-1-ivan-lendl-last","tag-year","tag-younger","tag-your-first-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}