As one of the WAG couples whose relationship has had more than its fair share of drama, Coleen Rooney and husband Wayne will prove cynics wrong this week when they celebrate 15 years of marriage. It’s a milestone many doubted they’d reach, as the former childhood sweethearts, both now 37, have had a tumultuous time since vowing to spend the rest of their lives together at their wedding in Italy, covered by OK! in June 2008.
Coleen, who has sons Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and five-year-old Cass with Wayne, has repeatedly shown fierce loyalty to her footballer husband and has pulled them back from the brink of splitting up more than once.
“I know people say, ‘Oh, were they just staying together to keep the family unit together?” she revealed recently in the Amazon Prime documentary Rooney. “That was part of it – but also we still love each other.”
Coleen is far from naïve, having learnt the hard way that the exchanging of wedding vows is only the start of the work it takes to keep a marriage together. “Hopefully he’s learnt and he doesn’t get himself into any of those horrible situations again,” she said of her decisions to stick by her long-term love’s past misdemeanours. “But it’s happened and I’ve got to live with it and if I couldn’t cope with living with it I would have ended the relationship.”
As the daughter of hard-working Catholic parents, Coleen has remained by Wayne’s side through thick, thin and everything in between, often seeking comfort and advice from her mum and dad. Colette and Tony McLoughlin have been invaluable in helping their daughter block out the noise and unsolicited opinions about her relationship.
“When you’re making those decisions you’ve got to focus on what you want and not other people, because you have so many people saying different things to you,” Coleen said. “Obviously I listen to the people that matter to me – my mum and dad. They’ve always given me a positive outlook on things.”
Even as trust was shattered when it emerged Wayne was paying for sex with other women when the two were dating, and again when Coleen was pregnant with Kai, they proved their relationship was never beyond repair.
Referring to the occasions on which she’s been forced to defend their union, Coleen told her supporters, “I appreciate getting cared about, however, I am a strong person, I don’t feel sorry for myself.
“Also a few people are probably thinking [I] am stupid for staying in my marriage. I am not stupid, I know my own mind and it’s something I want to try and work on.”
Coleen also argued that the media portrayal of the Manchester United and England captain does not reflect the real family man with whom she shares her life.
“Wayne doesn’t get portrayed for the person he is in the press,” she said. “He has always had a hard time. I’m not going to list his good qualities as a person… but one thing is that he is a brilliant dad.”
The couple met at the age of 12 in Liverpool when Wayne, who was already signed up at the Everton football academy, offered to help her fix her bicycle by the side of the road in Croxteth, where both families lived.
At the time, she was friends with Wayne’s cousin, Claire Rooney, who remains Coleen’s closest ally. Wayne later said he knew early that Coleen was the girl for him, confidently telling her, “When we grow up we’re going to get married and you’re going to have our kids”.
According to Coleen, she knew exactly what she was letting herself in for when she started dating Wayne shortly after they both turned 16.
“[He was] cheeky, full of confidence, always up to something,” she recalled in the Rooney documentary. “I always remember he used to hang around by where I lived, and now and again you’d get his mum shouting up and down the street, ‘Wayne!’”
Coleen, who was still a pupil at Liverpool’s St John Bosco Arts College for girls when she started dating Wayne, never signed up for the life of a WAG. It was only when her boyfriend was brought on to play for Everton in his first Premier League match – and scored a goal – that she was thrust into the spotlight.
They became household names and their fate as one of the country’s most famous couples was sealed. They would never again be simply young Coleen and Wayne from Liverpool.
In her 2008 autobiography, Welcome To My World, Coleen recalled the moment she first saw herself splashed across the papers.
“At times it’s been crazy, like a fairy tale, an amazing journey. I’m no longer the 16-year-old girl who appeared in the newspapers for the very first time after walking to school in that knee-length puffa jacket! I’ll always be the girl from Liverpool, but my life has changed in so many ways.”
And it changed, not least in 2004, when it emerged that the teenage Wayne had been visiting prostitutes and paying for sex behind his then-girlfriend’s back. The couple were forced to cope with the fallout as the world watched.
Coleen stood by her man, but in another massive blow, it was revealed in 2010 that he had returned to his old ways, visiting sex workers and taking part in a threesome while Coleen was pregnant with their firstborn, Kai. Seven years later he put Coleen – and their relationship – through the wringer yet again when he was pulled over by police for drink-driving and with him in the car was estate agent Laura Simpson.
On her decision to stay in her marriage then, Coleen said she can forgive his actions, but will never forget.
“It’s my decision,” she explained at the time. “Do I love Wayne? Yes I do. I’m not saying everything is fine and forgotten about, but we are as good as can be at this point, I’m not the type of person to put a show on and say we’re all loved-up… I’m just real.”
In Rooney, Coleen revealed she no longer has the anger with Wayne that she once had, explaining that they’d battled through together.
“I’ve sat down and explained what’s happened… It’s not a nice thing to have to do. It won’t happen again – I don’t want it to happen again.
“And for us to get through it was tough – tough weeks, tough months. We’ve been through hard times and it does make you stronger.“
Coleen has also been adamant that while the couple have had some very well-publicised lows during their marriage, there have also been plenty of highs that may not have garnered as much attention.
“I do have a private life and we are real people, which is sometimes overlooked,” she said. “We do have worries, troubles and obstacles in life we tackle and go through without anyone knowing and we also have fantastic fun times making memories with our loved ones without people knowing.”
Since his drink-driving conviction, Wayne has tried to keep his head down, focusing on his job as head coach of US team DC United, while Coleen has remained at their £20 million Cheshire mansion with their sons.
Proving they are not afraid to fight for what they believe in, the Rooneys became embroiled in the so-called Wagatha Christie case with fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy, 41, which ended up in the High Court in London in 2022.
Rebekah sued for defamation after Coleen accused her of leaking stories to the press from her personal Instagram account.
While Coleen and Wayne maintained a dignified silence and refused to be drawn into the public debate about the case, after the judge had ruled in Coleen’s favour she again made it clear her family would always be her priority.
“These leaks from my private Instagram account began in 2017,” she said after the trial concluded. “They continued for almost two years, intruding on my privacy and that of my family. Although I bear Mrs Vardy no ill will, today’s judgement makes clear that
I was right in what I said in my posts of October 2019.”
Despite keeping much of their later married years private, apart from some happy family photos posted to their social media accounts, in 2021 the Rooneys agreed to take part in the documentary about the footballer’s life and career, knowing they would need to share uncomfortable details about their relationship.
Explaining why they had decided to allow cameras into their normally private world, Wayne said he wanted people to “have a better understanding of me as a person, really”.
“Throughout a young sportsperson’s life they go through difficult periods and there is a lot of me talking about moments where I was really down, I didn’t want to be around anyone,” he said.
“People talk about mental health, at the time I did see someone at times. It is about realising what was going through your head and trying to cope with the pressure of playing for Manchester United and trying to be successful, playing for your country, then captaining your country and taking a lot of that pressure on as well.”
Despite it all, there’s little doubt that Wayne’s story could have been very different had he not had such a strong woman by his side.
And for Coleen, there has never been any doubt at all of where she should be. “People are everything, and people are what make me the happiest in life,” she says. “We surround ourselves with friends and family who are genuine, kind and caring people.”
After 15 years of marriage, it seems many lessons have been learnt that make them the rock-solid team we see today. We wish them all the best for the next happy chapter in their relationship.
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