Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's rarely seen wife, daughters' Netflix roles, 'devastating' allegations

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will represent the Premier League masses on the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing. And more than just providing a pay cheque, Hasselbaink has already revealed his heartfelt motivation for stepping onto the ballroom floor.

After signing up to the BBC hit show, former Chelsea and Leeds striker Hasselbaink said: "The drive is more about showing my girls that I can put myself in a vulnerable position and try to learn a new skill, try to compete and work hard to become better and be open-minded."

And it's only right given two of Hasselbaink's four daughters inspired him by starring in a Netflix adaptation of a hugely popular film. His wife, meanwhile, prefers to stay out of the spotlight as Mirror Sport explores some of the highs and lows the football icon has experienced in recent years.

Elusive Mrs. Hasselbaink

Little is known about Hasselbaink's wife, and one might imagine that absence from the public eye is intentional. However, there have been those rare occasions when partner Natalie has been spotted with the former Premier League hitman.

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It's understood the couple were wed in 2012, just before Jimmy began his transition into senior coaching. The Sun has reported the pair were wed at Cowarth Park in Ascot.

According to her private Instagram, the elusive Mrs. Hasselbaink has some involvement in developmental language disorder (DLD). Other than that, the pair share three daughters together, while Hasselbaink himself has one more daughter from a previous relationship.

Daughters' big breaks

Speaking of the couple's wider family, Hasselbaink has two daughters already making waves of their own in the media world. That's after Miah and Lauren Hasselbaink appeared in the Netflix adaptation of Matilda the Musical back in 2022.

The two sisters played support roles in the smash hit ensemble, which features A-list actors like Stephen Graham, Emma Thompson and Lashana Lynch. Both sisters are represented by Mary Liz Management, while Miah has already earned more work and featured in The Man In My Basement, a film starring Willem Dafoe.

Relating his own Strictly experience to his daughters' passions, Hasselbaink stressed it was a pleasure to throw himself into their worlds. And his entry into the ballroom gauntlet may yet be the biggest challenge of his career to date.

"That's our thing. I've got a daughter as well that used to be in the West End and does performing arts and drama," he told Covers. "She can dance and sing, and my middle daughter as well. So, the dancing and the singing and stuff.

"It is very common in my household. They are not footballers, so I have to integrate myself into their world, which I do with all pleasure."

'Devastating' sting operation

One of the darkest periods in Hasselbaink's career relates to allegations of improper conduct that came to light following a Telegraph sting operation in 2016. The newspaper's operation accused Hasselbaink of flying to Singapore and negotiating a £55,000 payment for Queens Park Rangers, the club he was managing at the time, to buy certain players.

Journalists posed as investors from a fictitious firm who wanted to become involved in player transfers. And the newspaper quoted Hasselbaink as saying (in regards to a fee): "Look, just try to make me happy… come up with a nice figure."

QPR released a statement backing their manager at the time, though he was sacked from the position roughly five weeks later. Sky Sports reported the Dutchman was "devastated" by the accusations, and Hasselbaink denied any wrongdoing, albeit admitting he had perhaps been "naïve."

"You reflect, you think back and you criticise yourself and you must say that I have been naïve," he said in September 2016, the day after the Telegraph report was published. "But then, with everything with it, I have never asked for money for myself to take a player or to bring a player to the club. I would never do that. That's the painful thing about it."

Hasselbaink wasn't the only football figure implicated in the investigation, with at least one other official stepping down from his job as a result. Hasselbaink went on to manage Northampton Town and Burton Albion before taking up an assistant coaching role with England's national team, which he left last year.

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