I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! star Coleen Rooney has opened up about her relationship with former footballer husband Wayne and the unexpected way he won her over
Coleen Rooney has said husband Wayne is “romantic in ways” that keep their relationship alive and he used to woo her with poetry written on hotel stationary when they were younger.
Speaking in the I’m A Celebrity camp to Oti Mabuse about her husband career as a professional football player, she also went through the highs and lows of their time together, including mistakes he made when he cheated on her with other women. Coleen, 38, revealed: “All he wanted to do was play football, he struggled with the fame side of it, he hated that. If he could’ve just played football and had none of the fame I think he would’ve been happier within life. He’s made mistakes along the way, but from 16, obviously you’re going to, that’s life.” Oti agreed: “You have to learn to be resilient at a young age, but he didn’t ask for that and it’s quite unfair on him as well that he had to be so strong so young.” Coleen said they had got married at 22 and were engaged as teenagers who were in the spotlight so they had to “grow up quick”.
She added: “Since the first mistake he’s made, that’s been in the public, people have not forgiven. When things have happened the public have wanted it to just go oh, split, you know, that’s it, split them up. But the fact is, there’s always been love still there. It has been difficult, but we’re happy now, after all those years… we’re a team.”
Speaking to GK Barry later on, she also revealed: “Wayne’s always wrote me poems.” Shocked, GK replied: “Wayne Rooney?” And Coleen added: “You know the hotel pads? He was always writing a little poem and putting it in his bag and he’d give it to me when we got home.”
GK replied: “That is so cute!” In the Bush Telegraph, GK said: “Never did I ever think that Wayne Rooney had it in him to write a love poem. I don’t know him but I never saw him as that type of man and I’m so intrigued at what they would say.”
Coleen reflected: “They’re nice to keep but I can’t remember the last time he gave me one…” GK jokes: “Well you might have one coming up: Roses are red, jungle is green, you’re my love, Coleen.” Reflecting in the Bush Telegraph, Coleen says: “He is romantic in ways, we’re not the lovey dovey couple in public but little things like that I think it keeps the relationship alive and it’s special when someone’s done something just for you, and the words mean something.”
Wayne and Coleen first mentioned his love poems in his 2022 Amazon Documentary Rooney. Wayne insisted “I was quite romantic.” He then revealed that one of the poem’s was called ‘Wiggle Wiggle’, but sheepishly said he can’t remember how it goes. Coleen has kept the teenage poems, telling the camera “they’re very romantic, you can tell he loves me”.
In the same documentary Coleen also spoke about Wayne mistakes. As a teenager, stories emerged in 2004 saying Wayne, who was an Everton star at the time, had visited a brothel multiple times with pals on drunken nights out.
Then after he married Coleen in 2008, further stories emerged in 2010 about a threesome with escorts Jenny Thompson and Helen Wood which happened the previous year, as well as date nights out with Jenny.
Asked why she stayed with him, Coleen told the documentary: “When you’re making them decisions, you’ve got to focus on what you want and not what else, because you have so many people saying different things to you. Oh ‘Why is she getting back with him? She should’ve got rid of him ages ago’.
“Obviously I listen to the people that matter to me, my mum and dad, they’ve always given me a positive outlook on things. There’s nothing that we can’t deal with, and that’s my way. We’re in a situation, let’s sit down, let’s see what we can do, and can you make it work? And we have.
“We’re not the lovey-dovey type anyway, we like to have a laugh together and we work well together, and we’ve got four kids. I know people say, ‘were they just staying together to keep the family unit together?’ That was part of it, but also we still love each other. Hopefully he’s learnt and he doesn’t get himself into any of them horrible situations again. But it’s happened and I’ve got to live with it, and if I couldn’t cope with living with it, I would’ve ended the relationship.”
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
