Emma Neville, wife of Gary Neville, discloses her counselling training and forthcoming launch of an online community following her challenging voyage through early menopause

Gary Neville’s wife, Emma, reveals after her ‘lonely and scary’ journey through early menopause at 41 she has trained as a specialist coach and is launching an online community.

Now a menopause counsellor, Neville, 41, launched her Instagram support page, emmanevillethisisme, on Wednesday and it already has 5,000 followers – including her footballer husband.

The WAG, who has never joined in the antics of other footballers wives, addressed her new followers in a video and said: ‘I was 41 when I faced early menopause.

‘I wasn’t ready, prepared or had any knowledge on how to support myself. The journey was lonely and scary and I knew something had to change.

‘If I had the tools I have now, my journey would have been much different.

New career: Gary Neville ’s wife, Emma, reveals after her ‘lonely and scary’ journey through early menopause at 41 she has trained as a specialist coach and is launching an online community

‘This is Me is a space for Women to feel understood, celebrated and supported through the journey to well-being. It’s the resource I wish I had when going through my experience.’

The mother of two daughters qualified as a counsellor in 2019 but has not previously opened up about why she began the venture.

But earlier this year she said: ‘I’m not ashamed to say, I’m fully through the menopause now.’

The shock of going through early menopause has empowered her to help other women.

Her online community was met with an outpouring of support with followers of the page hailing her a ‘heroine’.

This is Me Instagram account – the only form of public social media Mrs Neville is on – despite her husband’s high profile.

The couple met in 2004 when she worked as a shop assistant in Manchester with the former England footballer proposing three years later in Malta.

Until recently the Nevilles lived in a £3m mansion in Bolton with their two teenage daughters, Mollie and Sophie.

While her husband, a former Manchester United star, has continued to make more than £1m a year for his punditry work for SkySport, Mrs Neville has kept a low profile as a philanthropist up until now.

For four years, Mrs Neville has volunteered as a counsellor at Bury Cancer Support Centre, proving her different from the common perception of a Wag.

She joins other celebrities in the bid to raise menopause awareness including the likes of Davina McCall, Lorraine Kelly and Meg Matthews – ex-wife of Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher.