PA-PA-VOOM!

He’s a footballing legend, style icon and campaigner against racism, but becoming a dad is the greatest achievement of Thierry Henry’s life. The jet-heeled Frenchman talks exclusively to Matthew Weiner about caesareans, stem cell research and early, early mornings…

I don’t mind nappies. Full or half-full. They don’t bother me.” Worshipped by millions of fans the world over, the Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry is the epitome of cool, oozing va-va voom whether strutting his stuff on Renault Clio ads or easing past defenders like they were practice cones. Yet there’s none of his characteristic shrugging or pouting as we ride in his American SUV from Arsenal’s training ground back to his Hampstead pad. Instead the 28-yearold is enthusiastically discussing his baby daughter’s dirty diapers. Usually when a £50 million star of Henry’s calibre talks to a member of the press it’s out of necessity; either he’s plugging a big match, a new football boot or a computer game. Inevitably, the conversation will be cliché ridden sludge punctuated by endless ‘as I said’s’ and ‘at the end of the days’ as the player makes it quite clear he’d rather be doing anything else than talking with you. This, however, isn’t one of those interviews. The Arsenal captain hasn’t been paid to talk to me and there isn’t a herd of journalists waiting impatiently behind me. The only reason I’m here is that Thierry Henry, like every new dad, is bursting to talk about the birth of his first born and how it has completely transformed his life in a way that no goal or trophy ever could.

Every football fan knew something was up at the beginning of the season at Highbury when Henry raced away from one of his trademark strikes making a ‘T’ sign with his fingers. That was the French forward publicly celebrating the birth of his daughter Téa. If you’re wondering if Thierry’s spent so much time in England that he’s now naming his progeny after the national drink then think again. Téa is pronounced Te-ah and originates from Theodore the Greek goddess of beauty – not a packet of PG Tips. “We liked it because it was original,” says Henry, “but I know people will call her ‘tea’,” he says, sighing in resignation.

Born on 27th May 2005, Téa Henry was delivered via caesarean section. This was not, as the striker is at great pains to point out, because Nicole Merry (Henry’s model wife who played his girlfriend in the Renault ads) was ‘too posh too push’. Téa was a ‘breeched baby’ – meaning she was sitting in the womb with her feet facing down – making a regular delivery impossible. “It wasn’t that Nicole didn’t want to push,” says Henry. “Its important to my wife that people know that.” Despite these difficulties, Henry refused to leave Nicole’s side. “I’m not bothered by the sight of blood,” he says. “I was there for the whole delivery.” When his daughter finally emerged it was one of the very few times in his life that the articulate Frenchman was left speechless. There was no ritualcutting of the umbilical cord for the proud new dad though – instead the Henrys opted to have Téa’s umbilical blood stored. This new medical procedure, which costs around £500, involves the freezing of the baby’s stem cells for use in case it develops any serious diseases later on in life. “It was just a precaution but we felt it was worth taking,” says Henry.

Listening to Henry talk about his newborn is strangely akin to watching him play: fast, unpredictable and with more than a touch of poetry about it. When asked how he found the birth, he slips into an almost haiku-like stream of consciousness. “Nothing can compare,” he says, “I’ve won stuff in my life. Nothing can beat that. Nothing at all. It’s on another level. I just couldn’t speak. I was speechless. We did that. That’s us. Just looking at her.” You can’t help thinking that there are few Englishmen, let alone English footballers, who could express so much with so few words.