Sue Barker Breaks Silence on Brief Romance With Cliff Richard — 40 Years Later
LONDON — Former tennis champion and broadcaster Sue Barker has spoken candidly about her short-lived relationship with pop icon Sir Cliff Richard, revealing her frustrations that, more than four decades later, the singer still references their fleeting romance.
In an excerpt from her forthcoming book, Barker detailed how she and Richard first met in 1981, after the singer spotted Shadows bandmates Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett celebrating with her following a tennis victory in Brighton. Impressed, Richard tracked down Barker’s number and invited her to a concert at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.
“It was a really nice night,” Barker recalled, describing how, shortly after, she flew to Japan for a tournament. On arrival, she was surprised to receive a telegram from Cliff wishing her success. “So I knew he was keen,” she wrote.
The early signs suggested something promising. Barker said the pair continued speaking occasionally by phone, with Richard calling again six months later to arrange another meeting in Denmark, where she was playing an exhibition match. By Wimbledon, the pair had spent more time together, but their growing friendship quickly attracted attention.
“The press went crazy, and I hated it,” Barker admitted.
Still, she remembered Richard as a considerate companion who impressed her family and friends. “He was always fun to be around. He got on well with everyone, and he never flinched when fans approached him for autographs,” she wrote.
Her parents, however, expressed concern over the 16-year age gap — Barker was 25 while Richard was 41. “Dad warned me it could become a problem as we got older,” she said.
By the summer of 1982, Barker was nursing a knee injury that derailed her Wimbledon performance and forced her to miss the US Open. At the time, she was sharing her Wimbledon flat with a friend, Jill, who happened to be dating Richard’s housemate, Bill Latham. While Richard went away on holiday, Barker said the romance fizzled out.
To her surprise, Richard ended things through an intermediary. “One of his friends called to break it off,” Barker wrote, admitting she was left both angry and upset.
Although Richard later reached out, telling her he “missed me” and suggesting dinners together, Barker soon realised their relationship would never move beyond friendship. “For a brief moment I hoped something might be rekindled,” she admitted, “but it became clear that wasn’t going to happen.”
Even as their personal contact faded, the press continued to link them as a couple. Barker revealed her growing irritation at Richard’s habit of bringing up the relationship in interviews long after it had ended.
“He would say things like, ‘I didn’t love her enough to propose,’” she said. The remarks resurfaced painfully years later — even the day after her wedding to Lance Tankard, when Richard gave an interview titled Why I Couldn’t Marry Sue.
Looking back now, Barker says she regrets that what was little more than a short friendship continues to be discussed decades later. “It just looked silly that he was still talking about it,” she wrote. “If I’d known it would drag on like this, I wouldn’t have gone near him.”
Though her time with Richard lasted only a short period, the media fascination has endured far longer — something Barker admits she never anticipated. “It wasn’t a great love affair, just a moment in time,” she concluded.