A Miss USA crown and an England football captaincy don’t usually share a headline — unless the 2021 titleholder is Elle Smith, a Kentucky beauty queen who spent her reign moving between pageant stages and TV newsrooms before going public with her relationship with Lionesses captain Leah Williamson in 2023. Here’s what’s actually documented about her background, her partner’s reported earnings, and the part no one can verify yet: the money.
Full name: Elle Smith · Born: June 20, 1998 (Springfield, Ohio, USA) · Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) · Occupation: Model, actress, beauty queen · Miss USA title: 2021 (representing Kentucky) · Partner: Leah Williamson (England footballer)
Quick snapshot
- Won Miss USA 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Wikipedia (free encyclopedia))
- Born June 20, 1998, in Springfield, Ohio (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia (free encyclopedia))
- University of Kentucky graduate and former WHAS-TV reporter (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia (free encyclopedia))
- In a public relationship with Leah Williamson since early 2023 (Elle Smith’s partner profile)
- Exact start date of the Smith–Williamson relationship — public by early 2023, precise timing unknown (Hello! magazine (celebrity title))
- Williamson’s true net worth: no official figure — reported salaries range from £150,000 to £200,000, while net-worth estimates reach £4 million (Hello! magazine (celebrity title) · LoveMoney (personal-finance site))
- Earnings for Lucy Bronze and Ella Toone — no verified public figures (Hello! magazine (celebrity title))
- Rumor of a Leah Williamson medical condition — no credible source supports it (Hello! magazine (celebrity title))
- November 29, 2021: Elle Smith wins Miss USA (Wikipedia) (BBC News (UK public broadcaster))
- 2022: England win the Euros; £55,000 bonus per player reported (BBC News (UK public broadcaster))
- Early 2023: Smith and Williamson’s relationship goes public (Elle Smith’s partner profile) (BBC News (UK public broadcaster))
- 2025: no breakup announced — still together (Elle Smith’s partner profile) (BBC News (UK public broadcaster))
- Williamson’s estimated Instagram fees of £10,000 or more per post point to rising commercial value — an estimate, not a disclosed rate (LoveMoney)
- Pay-gap scrutiny continues after the BBC’s £1.3-million-versus-£5-million bonus comparison (BBC News)
- Smith’s own earnings and next career move remain undisclosed
Key facts about Elle Smith
Eight biographical details, one pattern: the public record is solid on titles and dates, far thinner on money.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elle Smith |
| Date of birth | June 20, 1998 (Wikipedia) |
| Place of birth | Springfield, Ohio, USA |
| Height | 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) |
| Occupation | Model, actress, beauty queen |
| Miss USA title | 2021, representing Kentucky (Elle Smith’s Miss USA biography) |
| Partner | Leah Williamson, England footballer (partner profile) |
| Net worth | Not publicly disclosed |
Who is Elle Smith’s partner?
Elle Smith’s partner is Leah Williamson, the England women’s captain and Arsenal defender, per Elle Smith’s partner profile. Williamson captained the Lionesses to victory at the 2022 European Championship — the tournament that put the squad’s pay gap in the spotlight when the BBC reported the bonus structure behind the win (BBC News). The relationship became public in early 2023.
There was no staged announcement — the pairing surfaced through social media posts and media coverage, and it has held since, with no breakup reported (Elle Smith’s partner profile).
How long have Elle Smith and Leah Williamson been together?
- Publicly known since early 2023 — about two years as of 2025 (partner profile)
- No exact anniversary or “first date” has been published — the verified answer is “public by early 2023,” not “together since a specific date”
The implication: the precise timeline fans want simply isn’t public. What’s documented is when the world found out.
Are Elle Smith and Leah Williamson still together?
- Yes, as of 2025 — no breakup or separation has been announced (partner profile)
- Both continue their public careers — Smith in media, Williamson with Arsenal and England — with no statement suggesting a split
What this means: in the absence of any announcement, the default answer holds. They’re still together.
The pattern: this is an unusual celebrity couple — their status updates come from their work, not a PR team, which makes the silence around a breakup as informative as any post.
What is Elle Smith’s nationality?
Elle Smith is American. She was born in Springfield, Ohio, graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020 with a broadcast journalism degree and a political science minor, and later worked as an on-air reporter at WHAS-TV in Louisville — all documented in her Wikipedia entry.
Her Kentucky roots explain the pageant path: she represented Kentucky at Miss USA, and her 2021 win made her only the second woman from the state to take the crown, following Tara Conner’s 2006 title (Wikipedia). She went on to represent the United States at Miss Universe 2021 and reached the Top 10. Her acting credits are also listed on IMDb, the standard film-and-television database.
Elle Smith ethnicity
- Profiles describe Smith as biracial — African-American and Caucasian (Elle Smith’s partner profile)
- Ethnicity is one of the few personal details in her biography not tied to a title, degree, or byline
The nuance: ethnicity draws search traffic because the rest of her biography is so well documented — this detail sits in one of the few gaps.
Elle Smith parents
- Her father is African-American and her mother is Caucasian (Elle Smith’s partner profile)
- Their names have not been publicly confirmed
The trade-off: Smith has kept her family private effectively — the public record stops at the couple’s ethnic backgrounds.
Why this matters: for public figures, the biographical gaps become the most searched details — and those gaps are exactly where documentation ends and speculation begins.
Who is Ella Smith?
If you typed “Ella Smith” and landed here, the search engine understood you: “Ella” is the standard misspelling of “Elle,” and it’s the version people type when they mean the Miss USA 2021 titleholder. The correct name is Elle Smith (Elle Smith: Miss USA 2021 biography).
No significant public figure named “Ella Smith” is attached to this story. The “Ella Smith” queries — net worth, age, baby, partner — are almost all phonetically redirected versions of the Elle Smith searches this article answers.
When a name is misspelled this consistently, it’s a signal: people remember her first name as common, her career as uncommon — and the search bar absorbs the error.
The pattern: one dominant misspelling in search traffic tells you the person’s fame outpaces her name’s familiarity — and the query still points to the same woman.
How much is Leah Williamson worth?
Leah Williamson’s earnings are better documented than most women’s footballers’ — and still surprisingly hard to pin down. Here’s what the records show.
- Reported 2022-season earnings of £200,000 — a figure the BBC described as almost eight times the average UK salary (BBC News)
- That works out to roughly £3,846 per week before tax, using the same season figure across 52 weeks
- Hello! reported a £150,000 annual salary — a noticeably lower number (Hello!)
- Net-worth estimates land near £4 million, according to Hello! and LoveMoney (Hello! · LoveMoney)
The same BBC analysis reported a £55,000 bonus for every Lioness who won the 2022 Euros, plus a total tournament handout of £1.3 million — compared with a reported £5 million bonus for the England men’s team the previous summer (BBC News). Hello! also notes that Williamson receives about £2,000 per England appearance and typically donates that fee to charity (Hello!).
The trade-off: even a European title didn’t close the gap — £1.3 million shared among the squad versus £5 million for the men — which is why “how much does a Lioness earn” stays one of the most repeated questions in women’s football.
How much does Leah Williamson earn per week?
- Based on the BBC-reported £200,000 season: roughly £3,846 per week before tax
- Based on Hello!’s £150,000 report: roughly £2,885 per week (Hello!)
- Neither figure includes match bonuses, image rights, or endorsement income
Away from the pitch, LoveMoney counts Williamson’s commercial roster at five global brands — Gucci, Calvin Klein, Nike, Mastercard, and Aston Martin — and notes her reported Instagram following of about 1.2 million, with estimated fees of £10,000 or more per sponsored post (LoveMoney).
The catch: two credible outlets, two different salary numbers — because “salary” doesn’t mean the same thing in every report, and clubs rarely publish full contract terms.
What condition does Leah Williamson have?
The “condition” query is not backed by any credible reporting — nothing in the sources reviewed for this article documents a medical condition for Williamson.
The searches appear to mix her name with unfounded speculation. Either way, the public record doesn’t back the premise.
Why this matters: when a false premise keeps circulating, the responsible answer isn’t a fresh rumor — it’s a clear “no documented evidence.”
Who is the richest Lionesses player?
There is no official ranking of England women’s players by wealth, and the estimates that circulate online disagree. LoveMoney’s roundup of the highest-earning Lionesses places Williamson near the top of the list, combining reported salary with her commercial roster (LoveMoney).
Other names — Lucy Bronze and Ella Toone among them — keep surfacing in the same searches, but their contract figures aren’t public either.
The next WSL broadcast or sponsorship deal will likely move these estimates again — LoveMoney already ties Williamson’s profile to five global brands, none with disclosed contract values.
How much is Lucy Bronze worth?
- No verified net-worth figure for Lucy Bronze appeared in the sources reviewed for this article
- Search results circulate estimates around $2–3 million, but none are tied to primary financial documents
- Bronze’s high profile across top European clubs makes strong earnings plausible — but “plausible” isn’t “documented”
The lesson: a player’s fame and her verified pay are two different datasets, and only the first one is public.
Who is the highest paid female football player in England?
- Different outlets point in different directions — Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly both enter the conversation
- No public contract database exists for the Women’s Super League, so every “highest-paid” claim is an estimate
The pattern: without published contracts, rankings are built from reported fragments — useful as hints, not receipts.
How much does Ella Toone earn?
- Ella Toone’s net worth is commonly estimated at around $1 million in search results, but no verified figure emerged in this review
- Her Manchester United salary is believed to sit below £5,000 per week — again an estimate, not a disclosed term
Why this matters: Toone is a household name among England fans, yet her exact pay is private — that’s the WSL norm, not the exception.
The through-line: the “richest Lioness” question is popular precisely because the data is scarce. Fame is public, pay is private — and until clubs disclose contracts, the answer stays a report, not a record.
What’s confirmed, what’s not
A quick scorecard for the claims that keep circulating — what has solid sourcing, and what’s still speculation.
Confirmed facts
- Elle Smith won Miss USA 2021 (Wikipedia)
- Born June 20, 1998, in Springfield, Ohio (Wikipedia)
- Graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2020; worked at WHAS-TV in Louisville (Wikipedia)
- In a public relationship with Leah Williamson since early 2023 (partner profile)
- BBC reported Williamson’s 2022 earnings at £200,000 (BBC News)
What’s unclear
- Exact start date of the Smith–Williamson relationship — public by early 2023, precise timing unknown
- Williamson’s true net worth — roughly £4 million by some estimates, but built on modeling, not disclosure (LoveMoney · Hello!)
- How the couple actually met — not publicly documented
- Lucy Bronze’s and Ella Toone’s exact earnings — unverified
- Williamson “medical condition” rumors — no credible source supports them
- Elle Smith’s own net worth — not publicly disclosed
The balance is deliberate: the pageant facts are rock-solid, the money facts are soft. Follow the sourcing, and you’ll see exactly where the documented record ends.
What the sources say
Three voices frame the fame-and-money story better than any summary: the subject herself, a public broadcaster’s pay analysis, and a personal-finance site tracking Lionesses earnings.
“PSA: my apartment will not see me this summer — I will be everywhere but…”
Elle Smith, Instagram post
“£200,000 annual earnings — almost eight times the average UK salary.”
BBC News (UK public broadcaster)
“Reports estimate Williamson’s net worth at approximately £4 million.”
LoveMoney (personal-finance site)
The thread: the most reliable earnings figure in this story comes from BBC reporting, while celebrity-bio estimates range far wider. Trust the number with the source you can check.
The takeaway
Elle Smith’s story splits cleanly in two: a pageant-and-journalism résumé that’s fully documented, and a financial picture — hers and her partner’s — that isn’t. The BBC’s £200,000 figure for Williamson remains the most solid earnings data point in the conversation, and it’s a reminder of how far women’s football pay still trails the men’s game. For fans Googling “richest Lioness,” the honest answer is that the record doesn’t exist yet — and the choice is clear: verify the outlet before believing the figure, or let the next headline decide for you.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Elle Smith?
Elle Smith is an American model, actress, and beauty queen who won Miss USA 2021 representing Kentucky. She also works in broadcast journalism and is in a public relationship with England footballer Leah Williamson.
Is Elle Smith married?
No public record shows Elle Smith as married. She is in a relationship with Leah Williamson, but no engagement or wedding has been announced.
What is Elle Smith known for?
She is best known for winning Miss USA 2021 — only the second woman from Kentucky to take the title — and for her media work as a journalist and model before and after the crown.
Does Elle Smith have children?
There is no public record of Elle Smith having children. The question appears to come from general curiosity about her personal life rather than any announcement.
How did Elle Smith meet Leah Williamson?
The exact circumstances of their meeting have not been publicly documented. What is documented: the relationship became public in early 2023 through social media posts and media coverage.
What is Leah Williamson’s role on the England women’s football team?
Leah Williamson is a defender and has captained England’s women’s team, the Lionesses. She led the squad to victory at the 2022 European Championship — a tournament that also drew attention to the team’s pay gap with the men’s side.
Are there other famous pageant winners in relationships with athletes?
Yes — pageant-and-athlete pairings appear regularly in celebrity media. Elle Smith and Leah Williamson are among the most high-profile recent examples, though each relationship requires its own verifiable sources.
George Thompson is Senior Reporter at UrbanMixr.uk, covering breaking culture, lifestyle and general news stories across the UK.