Every wife has a tipping point – even the seemingly ever-patient Coleen Rooney.
After enduring years of scandal surrounding her footballer husband, it was revealed this week how Wayne finally crossed Coleen’s personal Rubicon earlier this year after – yet again – being pictured in a red-top newspaper, late at night, drunkenly chatting to an unknown woman.
The footballer reflected on the photographs in the couple’s new Disney+ series The Real Rooneys.
They showed him very bleary eyed at the newly opened Soho House in Manchester in February sitting beside the attractive young woman, who was wearing a very short skirt. But while Wayne admitted he was used to being on the sharp end of his wife’s tongue through their 25 years together, I can reveal the incendiary rage those pictures provoked from Coleen was on another level altogether.
She had been told he was going to a pre-BRIT Awards party with a couple of male friends but had been reassured that he was trying to cut down on his drinking following his departure from his role as manager of Plymouth Argyle.
But when she saw the reality of Wayne’s night out, a source very familiar with the situation told me Coleen ‘went absolutely ballistic. She was fuming.’ And not just at Wayne, but those around him too.
The source told me: ‘She is very protective of Wayne being taken advantage of when he has had too much to drink.
The footballer reflected on the photographs of Wayne drunkenly chatting to an unknown woman in the couple’s new Disney+ series The Real Rooneys
‘She was so angry she got in contact with Soho House to give them a good going over too. She was furious. It was an unprecedented reaction from Coleen, but one that showed just how at the end of her tether she was. She couldn’t understand how any of it happened and she wanted answers. And we all know if Coleen wants something, she will make sure she gets it.’
Today, sources close to the couple say she is delighted that her fury appears to have more than paid off as this was the misdemeanour that appears to have been pivotal in her husband’s decision to finally turn his life around. So much so it’s understood Wayne, who will turn 41 next month, hasn’t been drunk since.
This has had further unexpected benefits than just pleasing his wife: for it’s kickstarted a career renaissance for him and it’s proving lucrative.
‘This was when Wayne realised that had to be it,’ says a source. ‘It’s the night that actually changed his life. It transformed him. It made him sit up and realise he couldn’t go on like this. Coleen was furious he had been caught out, but if it hadn’t happened, there’s a chance he wouldn’t have made these changes in his lifestyle.
‘Hopefully this will be his last mis-step. He would be stupid to do anything like this again. Because life has been rather good for Wayne since that night.’
Indeed, once viewed as a boorish, ill-educated, unfit has-been, Wayne is now becoming one of the most sought-after men in sports’ broadcasting – and beyond. Sources tell me there is not a television channel or streaming giant that currently doesn’t want a slice of him. And in what is being described as the ultimate coup at ITV’s HQ, I can reveal he is almost certainly going to follow in Coleen’s footsteps to sign up for this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity.
Wayne in 2014 with a beer in Las Vegas. His new life is quite the transformation considering his charge sheet for misdeeds is almost as long as his goal tally
Last week it was reported that the prospect of Wayne going into the jungle was being discussed, but the story was couched with uncertainty and caveats. However, I’m told that his appearance is as good as sorted. Wayne’s management is, apparently, already negotiating the minutiae of his deal.
His pay cheque is set to be substantial: Wayne is thought to be commanding one of the biggest sums ever paid by ITV to take part in the show, two years after Coleen was runner-up. And his new clean image seems to have helped negotiations.
‘Would ITV have wanted him if his reputation was in the gutter?’ asks my television insider. ‘Probably not.’
It isn’t just ITV which is throwing money at Wayne. Bosses at the BBC are ‘huge fans’ of the former Everton and Manchester United striker, seeing what they describe as his ‘down-to-earth’ contributions to their commentary as key to attracting viewers. Take, for example, his description of this year’s World Cup Final half-time show starring Madonna, Shakira and Justin Bieber as ‘crap’. Seemingly speaking for millions, his verdict went viral, with millions praising him on social media for his ‘legendary’ comment.
‘Usually swearing on television is a no, no,’ says my source at the BBC. ‘But the bosses loved it, they thought it made the BBC come across as real.
‘Wayne is a huge asset. Despite his massive wealth he is seen by them as relatable.’ Indeed, he is in demand on the corporation’s Match Of The Day too, where he earns an eye-watering £8,000 per episode.
He also had a BBC podcast but recently began hosting another – Stick To United With Wayne Rooney – produced by Gary Neville’s media empire – which focuses on his former team, Manchester United.
‘Wayne is coining it in,’ says my insider. ‘The former footballers who make it in television are usually the more intelligent, more refined ones. Many wrote Wayne off but he’s having the last laugh. People love him.’
It’s quite the transformation considering his charge sheet for misdeeds is almost as long as his goal tally. He started early when, in 2004, aged just 18, he was caught visiting a massage parlour, where he engaged with sex workers there.
And in 2010 – escorts Jennifer Thompson and Helen Wood claimed they had sexual encounters with Rooney two years before, shortly after he and Coleen married – and while she was pregnant with their first son – at the five-star Lowry hotel in Manchester.
Then in 2017, he was charged with drink-driving after being pulled over in a car belonging to estate agent Laura Simpson following a drinking session in Cheshire. A year later, by now playing in the US for DC United, he was arrested at Washington Dulles Airport for public intoxication and swearing.
All this has been challenging for Coleen to say the least. Their new documentary reveals how the mother-of-four has struggled to keep their marriage together.
She says she considered ‘separating’ amid his drunken behaviour, and the show screened a row between them while they were on holiday in Portugal and he went off with friends.
Their new documentary reveals how the mother-of-four has struggled to keep their marriage together. She say she considered ‘separating’ amid his drunken behaviour
Coleen admitted to the camera: ‘There are times when I think the answer to everything is to see what it’s like if we are separated.’
Friends of the couple say that, despite everything, she is pleased she stuck by him.
And, they add, she is extremely proud of his new look. For since his last boozy night in February, her husband has undergone something of a ‘glow-up’.
Sources suggest he has lost around four stone – a huge achievement for Wayne, who himself has joked about being compared to the animated ogre Shrek.
Gone are the tubby body and beard, as revealed on the red carpet for his Disney+ show in London this week.
Wayne’s overhaul is the result of the trendy Macro diet, which involves individuals tracking their daily intake of the three ‘macronutrients’ – carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
How much each person can have in a day is calculated based on their height, weight, activity level and weight-loss goals. It’s quite the contrast from the days he would gorge on pizza and McDonald’s before Premier League matches.
Wayne’s fashion choices have also improved after he consulted a stylist over his on-screen wardrobe.
With their help, he has picked out carefully fitted shirts, tailored jackets and slim-look knitwear, with a particular fondness for high-end menswear brand Hugo Boss.
Finally, he revealed this summer he had had a nose job, after breaking his nose twice during his career, a procedure Coleen apparently pushed him to do.
‘She knows what’s best for him,’ says a friend of the couple. ‘She’s been trying to tell him for years, now he’s finally listening.
‘And, wow, has it paid off.’