They are the childhood sweethearts who shot to fame in the early 2000s, dominating newspaper headlines and back pages across Britain in the decades since.
But it appears that Wayne and Coleen Rooney live a far more normal life than one would expect.
The Manchester United legend, 40, and his I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here runner-up wife, 39, first met at the age of just 12 in the Liverpool suburb of Croxteth before striking up a relationship around four years later.
Coleen was quickly propelled into the public eye in extraordinary circumstances soon after, snapped by a paparazzi while trudging home in the rain in her school uniform.
In the two decades since, Wayne won multiple Premier League titles at Old Trafford and became one of England’s greatest-ever goal scorers. While Coleen, famously embroiled in the Wagatha Christie scandal with Rebekah Vardy, established herself as one of the UK’s most recognisable media personalities.
Now sharing a rare insight into what their life is like today – including Wayne’s bizarre sleeping habits – Coleen told the BBC’s Wayne Rooney Show how that first paparazzi changed it all.
‘It’s been a whirlwind,’ she said of their relationship over the years. ‘Obviously at 16 I got a taste of it with Wayne first and when the pap photograph in the uniform was in the paper it all started for me then.
‘But it was good because we had each other going through the same thing and obviously Wayne’s was much bigger than mine, but I think we helped each other out and the main thing for us is that we’ve had a good supportive group around us.
‘And I think that’s been people’s downfall in the public eye. They haven’t had a supportive group and that’s when they’ve gone a bit off the rails and let it go to their heads and not being able to cope with it.
‘But no, it’s a long time ago now but it doesn’t seem that long ago. We’ve had our ups, we’ve had our downs but we’ve had experiences that you would never have imagined.’
United legend Wayne finished his playing career in 2021 and has managed Derby County, DC United, Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle – all of varying degrees of success.
But in recent months he has taken the time to venture further into punditry, launching his own show on the BBC, appearing on the broadcaster’s flagship sports show Match of the Day as well as featuring on The Overlap with his former United crew.
The break from the dugout has allowed Rooney to spend more time with his family – including their four sons – and most recently allowed Coleen to plan his 40th birthday, which he celebrated in October.
Coleen said she had planned it so that Wayne believed they were ‘just going for a meal with a group of friends’ before surprising him with a weekend getaway which they had to travel to by private helicopter.
‘It was a surprise so I planned it all,’ she said. ‘And he thought we were just going for a meal with a group of friends.
‘I said to him ‘where should I book? And he said ‘what about Gusto?’ which is where we just take the kids for a pizza. He doesn’t want much. It’s not a fancy restaurant.
‘So he wanted to go there but little did he know Gusto is closed down now, it’s not even open. We arranged to go to a local pub and have a private room, so he thought, but obviously I’d planned a weekend away.
‘So we were all in the house and then the next minute, the helicopter landed. So he went ‘oh what’s she done now’ and he thought someone was getting off the helicopter!’
Wayne said he was ‘waiting for Ed Sheeran to get off’, much to the amusement of Coleen who then whisked him away for three nights and broke her leg while they were enjoying a fancy dress party.
‘I was dressed as Dolly Parton,’ Coleen said of the leg break. ‘I had big fake boobs in and I think I might have just been top heavy and it took me over!’
While Coleen told how she put a lot of effort into making the surprise work, Wayne admitted he did not know how to surprise her ahead of her own 40th birthday next April.
‘He always uses the excuse of ‘it wouldn’t be good enough for you’,’ Coleen said. ‘He’s not really a planner, so he’ll say ‘there’s no point in me doing it because you’d want to do it yourself’.’
The Rooneys returned from the holiday to their luxurious £20million mansion in Cheshire, where Coleen also revealed some of Wayne’s worst habits – saying he can spend an entire day on the couch.
She also revealed that he once went an astonishing two days without waking up, and had to get family members to check he was alive.
‘He slept for maybe two days solid one time,’ Coleen explained. ‘My brothers came round and they were like ‘is he still in bed?’
They had to go up and say ‘are you ok?’ That’s my point about him in the house. If he didn’t have anything to do he’d just sleep. It’s just pointless.’
The pair also shared some surprising details about their home life, telling how they shop at supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer and use food delivery service Gousto for their meals rather than private chefs like some retired footballers.
Branded a ‘man of the people’ by the podcast’s co-host Kelly Somers, Wayne also revealed that he buys his clothes in M&S and Next and Coleen admitted that she used to help him with his outfits.
‘I used to,’ she said. ‘Not as much anymore. I’ve got too much to do now, the kids have taken over.’
