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‘I think we’re doing well, aren’t we?,’ Coleen Rooney leans over to ask her husband Wayne with a smile.
‘We’ve had really high highs, and we’ve had lows, but we’ve got each other and we’ve got a good support system around us.’
Speaking to Metro ahead of the release of their Disney series, The Real Rooneys, the couple, who have been together for an impressive 24 years, revealed exactly how they’ve kept their marriage thriving, despite high-profile scandals and a ‘nightmare’ high court case.
The 10-part series gives a glimpse behind closed doors of the famous family during a pivotal year of filming.
The cameras were let in just as former Manchester United and England captain Wayne, 40, stepped away from football management after being sacked by Plymouth Argyle, swapping the touchline for school runs and a new job in punditry for the BBC .
It’s also a candid look inside the pair’s family life at their sprawling £20,000,000 Cheshire mansion with their four boisterous sons: Kai, 16, Klay, 13, Kit, 10, and Cass, eight.
‘They’ve been exposed to it all from the beginning, from when I was playing, and people commenting on things, all the bad stuff, they’re not getting away from that. But they deal with it well,’ Wayne says.
Coleen, 40, adds: ‘Our roots are still our roots and our families are still in Liverpool in areas that we grew up. We go back there all the time.
‘The kids are streetwise and that’s something that we always wanted. They’ll go to Liverpool and go out with their cousins on bikes on the estate. We tell them they’re in a really privileged position and they’re lucky, but they’ve got the morals that we were brought up with.’
Elsewhere in the series, Coleen discusses her Wagatha Christie libel court case against Rebekah Vardy.
The jaw-dropping trial ended with the judge ruling in Coleen’s favour after her barrister described Vardy’s claim as ‘probably the most ill-advised legal action since Oscar Wilde put pen to writ.’
Following on from her 2024 appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Coleen reveals how the increased publicity has led to more opportunities, including a clothing collection with Primark.
‘The court case wasn’t planned, and it was the worst period in my life. I absolutely hated it,’ Coleen told us.
‘And I didn’t want to thrive off the back of that. However, it was worldwide news and afterwards I wanted to tell my story and close a book on that period. I’ve felt a lot of love from people.
‘It gave me that little bit of confidence to think, do you know what? Let me take up some of those opportunities that I’ve been getting and go back to the things that I do love, as well as being a mum. I think it was the support from the public that just egged me on that little bit more.’
The series shows Wayne and Coleen’s relationship in a new light, having first met when they were just 12 in their native Croxteth, Liverpool, ahead of the footballer’s career taking off at Everton.
But their relationship has had its fair share of bumps in the road. In one tense scene in the series, Coleen is left angered over Wayne staying up all night with friends on a family holiday.
She tells the camera: ‘There’s times where I think, is the answer to see what it’s like if we were separated?’
‘It was a time where we weren’t in a good place,’ Coleen tells us, before Wayne interjects: ‘It was only a night out!’
‘See, it was one night out of many nights out,’ she hits back. ‘I’ve come to a point where I just said, “Come on Wayne, take some responsibility.”’
‘He was doing my head in.’
But it’s not all rows and ultimatums.
‘We love each other,’ Wayne smiles. ‘You have difficult moments in any marriage and then you find a way of getting through those tough times. We’ve got four children, and it can be hectic, but I think it’s important that you find the time for each other.’
‘We’ve had ups and downs with everyone looking in on it. These days a lot of people are quick to make a decision, whereas we give things time to see whether we can work it out. We’re in a really happy place.’
Stream The Real Rooneys exclusively on Disney+ from 24 September.
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