Lewis Moody shares heartbreaking chat with his kids and his wife's emotional promise

Lewis Moody shares heartbreaking chat with his kids and his wife's emotional promise Lewis Moody has opened up further about his motor neurone disease diagnosis and the heartfelt promise his wife Annie has made to him Lewis Moody's wife has promised to stick by the ex-England rugby union star no matter what after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Moody has been battling the illness for just over a year. The 48-year-old is an England legend. He won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 as well as three Six Nations Championships and for Leicester Tigers, he claimed the Premiership title on seven occasions. But in October 2025, the sport was rocked after Moody revealed that he had been diagnosed with MND. He had initially felt some weakness in his shoulder whilst training at the gym and underwent specialist testing, which confirmed he had the disease. Speaking about his partner of more than 20 years, Annie, Moody has now emotionally shared that he'll receive her steadfast support throughout the entire battle - and she promised him this right after he was diagnosed. "She said she'd be there no matter what," Moody told the High Performance podcast about his wife, with whom he shares two sons, Dylan and Ethan. Make sure you don't miss sport's biggest stories and breaking news by making the Daily Mirror one of your Google preferred sources. He then discussed breaking the news of his diagnosis to his children. Moody said: "As soon as we found out, I said to Annie, 'I'm going to tell the boys as soon as we get back.' We probably talked about it in the car. "It was a bit of a haze, as you can imagine. I just walked in and sat down and said, 'I've got something to tell you. It's not going to be easy to hear.' That was it. "It's horrible telling your kids that, knowing that as a parent you've brought this disappointment and sadness. Telling your kids is hard. You don't ever want to feel like that. But as soon as you've told them, you can then move forward." Despite concerns about what lies ahead, Moody acknowledges he has accepted his diagnosis and is maintaining a remarkably optimistic perspective. He said: "It doesn't mean you're going to die immediately. "We can look into drugs, we can look into trials. Prior to that, you can't do anything because you don't know what's wrong. We just have a great time and are seeking to do that as often as possible." Moody added: "We will laugh, we will live, we will love. I choose to live a hopeful and positive life. I don't see the point in being any other way." Several other high-profile rugby figures across both codes have been diagnosed with the condition. This includes former England and Leeds Rhinos star Rob Burrow, who died in June 2024 aged just 41.