Peyton Manning's Wife, Ashley Manning Is His Long-Time Wife of 21 Years: What We Know About Her

American former football quarterback Peyton Manning has had a lot of cheerleaders since he got onto the playing field. Still, his number-one cheerleader for over two decades has been his wife, Ashley Manning.

Ashley Manning is a businesswoman who met her husband through a neighbor and they immediately started dating. Even though he was in Tennessee and she was at the University of Virginia, they found a way to make it work.

After marriage, they have two children and have lived in any city where the legendary NFL quarterback was playing. To date, she supports his career decisions and has always encouraged him to do better.

Peyton was born in New Orleans on March 24, 1976. At 22, he was the number one pick in the first round of the 1998 National Football League draft and made his professional debut for the Indianapolis Colts that same year.

After 18 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, he moved to Denver Broncos for four seasons before he retired. During his playing career, he was nicknamed "The Sheriff" and became a two-time Super Bowl champion and one-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.

Despite Peyton's accolades, he has always acknowledged that his wife, Ashley, has been his support. They married on March 17, 2001, in Memphis, Tennessee, and she helped with some of his big career decisions. The retired footballer once revealed that she convinced him to move from the Indianapolis Colts to the Denver Broncos.

Who Is Peyton Manning's Wife, Ashley Manning

Ashley was born on December 2, 1974, in Memphis. Despite her husband's celebrity status, she owns a real estate firm and is a successful developer.

She attended the University of Virginia, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Finance in 1997. Seventeen years after she graduated, her husband stated she was the most intelligent person he knew.

In the book "Manning: A Father, His Sons, and a Football Legacy" which he co-authored with his father in 2000, the NFL star revealed that Ashley made A's while in school.

In 2012, Ashley expanded her business skills when she became a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, Tennessee's National Basketball Association team.

She was motivated to join the ownership group because she wanted the Grizzlies to stay in Tennessee and continue to have a positive influence on the community.

While her husband supported her business venture, she had always been there for him in his career. When he considered retirement in 2011, she urged him to continue playing, and he ended up playing for another five years before retiring.

Peyton Manning and Ashley Manning's Meeting and Marriage

Ashley met Peyton in her hometown at a fraternity party he had attended the summer before he began his first year at the University of Tennessee.

Her parents' next-door neighbor had introduced them, and even though they only talked for a little while, she soon became the girl that occupied all his "coeducational" attention.

He did not make a big first impression as his pastel shirt turned her off, and even when he promised to sneak out after bed check so they could talk, he did not.

They did not see each other again until he was into the season, but the memory of their first meeting kept Peyton interested, and their mutual friends helped them stay in touch.

Ashley would come over to see his game despite the four-and-a-half-hour drive away from her school. It soon became a habit, and he would return the favor when he had an off week or the season was over.

After she graduated from University, she had 16 job offers in New York City alone but settled for a marketing position in Knoxville to make spending time with Peyton more convenient.

Peyton was pleased because Ashley liked him for his inner self, as he had not gained any real fame when they started dating. The couple got engaged in the summer of 2000 but kept it quiet because they did not want it to be a story during football season.

On March 17, 2001, the couple married on St. Patrick's Day and took a week off the season for their honeymoon, but they did not share details of where they were going.

Even though the wedding was a surprise to many of his fans as they had kept their engagement a secret, his father, Archie Manning, a former New Orleans Saints quarterback, revealed that it was a pretty big wedding with over 500 guests.

Do Peyton Manning and Ashley Manning Have Kids?

Two weeks after their 10th wedding anniversary, Ashley and Peyton welcomed their twins, son Marshall Williams Manning and daughter Mosley Thompson Manning.

The couple who prefer to lead a private life has kept their kids out of the spotlight. However, in June 2021, the NFL star revealed some details about their children.

Peyton revealed that their kids are walking in his footsteps as they have shown an interest in sports. He has also graduated from being a dad to being their coach.

He coaches Marshall's flag football team and Mosley's softball team, even though some other parents were a little "hesitant" about his coaching skills.

Their hesitation came from a 2013 "Saturday Night Live" skit, where he jokingly pegged 7-year-old kids in the head with footballs while coaching them.

In addition, despite being one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton's children are not impressed as he is not their favorite football player.

His son is a fan of Patrick Mahomes, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs and once wore Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen's jersey, while his daughter is a fan of Stefon Diggs, who plays for the Buffalo Bills.