BBC presenter Alex Scott is back on our screens tonight as one of three hosts for this year's Sports Personality of the Year awards.

The former Arsenal and England ace is part of an all-female lineup for this year's awards, joining Gabby Logan and Clare Balding to front coverage from the ceremony in Salford on Tuesday night.

Scott played for the Gunners nearly 150 times in her career, as well as representing Birmingham City and the Boston Breakers, she won a whopping 140 caps for England and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics.

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But since hanging up her boots, she has established a glowing career in broadcasting, with her profile rising year on year. After becoming the BBC's first female World Cup pundit in 2018, she has fronted shows including Final Score, Match of the Day and the One Show and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.

With that increased level of fame, however, comes greater public interest in one's personal life with the 40-year-old seeing her love life and relationships make headlines in recent years.

Last year, she faced weeks of speculation over her relationship with popstar Jess Glynne, after the pair were spotted attending several events - including parties and award ceremonies - together. In November, they were also seen sharing a kiss while strolling through London together, but Glynne looked to still keep things under wraps.

Quizzed about Scott in an interview with the Daily Mail, the I'll Be There singer said: "I’ve never ever confirmed that I’m in a relationship with anyone. I’ve always made a conscious effort to keep something for myself. I’ll never change that. My friendships, family, relationships, those are mine."

She added: "Love who you love, be you and be happy. But it's a very brutal world and outside judgement is never easy. When someone says, 'Well, what are you? Heterosexual, bisexual, queer?', I'm like, 'Why does that matter to you?'"

Shortly after that interview was published, Scott appeared to react to the singer's comments as she shared a picture of Glynne and wrote alongside it for her 1.9 million followers to see: "Oh hello..." with a red heart and heart eyes emoji.

The couple later went public with their relationship and have attended numerous events together as well as jetting off on luxurious holidays in the sun. But Scott has admitted she has faced heartbreaking struggles in her relationship with Glynne, due to the "huge impact" her father had on her as a child.

In an interview with The Times, the former footballer alleged that her "stupidly cruel" dad Tony physically and mentally abused her family during her childhood and banned them from showing emotion - something that has impacted her future relationships, including with Glynne. He has denied the allegations, but Scott says her experiences mean she still struggles with expressing her emotions today.

“We weren’t allowed to express emotion," she said. “Dad didn’t allow us to hug each other or say ‘I love you’. It had a huge impact on us all. To this day, if I want to show people love, I’ll do it by taking them out to dinner and paying.”

“I remember one of the first times Jess hugged me. I was like… [rigid]," she added. “She was like, ‘Are you not going to put your arms around me?’ But I didn’t know how to do that. We laugh about it to this day.”

Reflecting on going public with her relationship with Glynne, Scott continued: “It took us a while because we knew what we have is so special, so it has been about trying to protect that and keep that for us in such a way that it continues to be beautiful.”

In response to the allegations, her father said: "I have no idea why she's saying all this stuff. I was raised in a strict but loving Jamaican family and Alex should know what they are like. I taught her discipline, I did a lot to help her.

"Perhaps she is judging me by today's standards, I don't know. Parents were a lot tougher back then. But I was never violent, that's just not me. I never beat Alex or anyone else in the family or did anything like that."

Scott's relationship with Glynne came after she admitted to falling "madly and deeply in love” with her Arsenal and England teammate Kelly Smith. Sharing details about the hidden eight-year relationship and subsequent heartbreak in her memoir How (Not) To Be Strong, the former Lioness explained: "For me, it’s like that first love story. I fell madly and deeply in love.

"Yes, there’s that heartbreak and those things, but it’s a huge part of my life and I wouldn’t go back and change that. Because that feeling of love and that excitement and what it gives you, it needed to be in there.”

Smith went on to marry DeAnna Dobosz in 2016, with the couple having two children together. Scott, meanwhile, has previously been the subject of rumours linking her to her Strictly partner Neil Jones, while she also opened up about a "disastrous" date she had with Coronation Street actor Sam Robertson.

"I never seem to have a lot of luck on dates,” she told the Sun. “My one date in ages was going out with Sam [Robertson], who is lovely. The next morning, our pictures were all over the press because someone in the restaurant had taken a photo. It wasn’t exactly a great start!”