Coleen Mary Rooney (née McLoughlin; born 3 April 1986) is a former television personality, and is married to former English footballer Wayne Rooney.

Coleen Rooney
Rooney in 2006
Born
Coleen Mary McLoughlin

(1986-04-03) 3 April 1986 (age 37)
EducationSt John Bosco Arts College
Spouse
(m. 2008)
Children4, including Kai

Early life and family edit

Coleen Mary McLoughlin was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, to Tony and Colette McLoughlin. Tony McLoughlin, who was a bricklayer, also ran a boxing club. The McLoughlins are of Irish descent. Coleen is the eldest of four children; her sister Rosie, who had Rett syndrome, died on 5 January 2013 at the age of 14.[1]

Coleen Rooney attended St John Bosco Arts College and left school with 10 GCSEs, including an A* for Performing Arts.[2]

Career edit

Rooney wrote a column for celebrity magazine Closer entitled "Welcome to My World". She left Closer in 2008 to write a weekly fashion and news column for OK! magazine.[3] Rooney began presenting when in May 2006, she assisted Sir Trevor McDonald on his show Tonight with Trevor McDonald in a programme about the genetic disorder Rett syndrome, from which her younger sister suffered.[4] She went on to make her own series for ITV called Coleen's Real Women in which she was labelled as "The nation's favourite girl next door"[5] and looked for "real women" to front advertising campaigns as an alternative to models.[6]

In December 2005, Rooney sold an exercise DVD entitled Coleen McLoughlin's Brand New Body Workout, which became a bestseller in the United Kingdom.[7] She was paid £3 million to front the George at Asda campaign.[8] In June 2010, Rooney struck a deal with retail and gambling company Littlewoods.[9] Rooney's autobiography, Welcome to My World, was released in March 2007.[10] This was followed by Coleen's Real Style the following year, published by HarperCollins.[11] She has also published a four-book series called Coleen Style Queen from 2008 to 2010.[12]

In October 2023, a drama documentary about the Wagatha Christie Court Case about Rooney vs Vardy released on Disney+, which documented and told Rooney’s side of the Court Case and the details leading up to the social media posting.[13]

Personal life edit

Marriage and children edit

She met her future husband, Wayne Rooney, at age 12 in the Liverpool suburb of Croxteth. They began a relationship when they were 16, after they left secondary school. Wayne's mother Jeanette worked as a part-time cleaner at St John Bosco Arts College, which Coleen attended.[14]

The couple married in Portofino, Italy on 12 June 2008; Britain's OK! magazine paid them a reported £2.5 million for exclusive wedding information and pictures.[15] The newlyweds, dubbed Wayleen,[16] moved into a new £1.3m mansion in Formby. They lived in Prestbury, Cheshire, in a £4 million neo-Georgian mansion,[17] prior to moving to the United States for Wayne Rooney’s career as player and manager for D.C. United.

The Rooneys have four sons, born 2009, 2013, 2016 and 2018.[18][19][20][21]

Rooney is a patron of the Liverpool-based Alder Hey Children's Charity.[22]

Rebekah Vardy dispute edit

On 9 October 2019, Rooney made a Twitter post[23] explaining that posts from her private Instagram account were being leaked to The Sun newspaper. She stated that to discover who was selling the stories, she had restricted access to the posts. She revealed that the only viewer of these posts was an account belonging to Rebekah Vardy, implying that she was the culprit. The ensuing scandal was dubbed 'Wagatha Christie', a portmanteau of the football term WAG and mystery writer Agatha Christie,[24] by the British media.

Vardy responded on her own Twitter account, denying the claims and claiming that her Instagram account had been hacked.[25] In June 2020, news broke that Vardy was taking Rooney to court for defamation, with legal costs reportedly set to hit £500,000 on each side.[26][27] In November 2020, Mr Justice Warby ruled in favour of Vardy after the libel preliminary hearing at the High Court in London which took place on 19 November 2020. Neither Rooney nor Vardy were at the court in person. Rooney was ordered to pay Vardy almost £23,000 in court costs. The pair were given until 8 February 2021 to make an attempt to mediate their case.[28][29] In May 2022, Vardy sued Rooney for libel, arguing that the accusation over her Instagram account was false. Following the earlier ruling, it became Rooney’s responsibility to prove Vardy was personally responsible for leaking stories to The Sun, or convince the judge that publication of the allegation was in the public interest.[30] In July 2022, the judge in the case, Mrs Justice Steyn, dismissed Mrs Vardy's claim, ruling that Mrs Rooney's accusation was "substantially true".[31]

References edit

  1. ^ "Coleen Rooney's sister Rosie dies". BBC News. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. ^ Davies, Hunter (17 December 2006). "Some have celebrity thrust upon them". The Times. Archived from the original on 19 March 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2007.
  3. ^ Coleen McLoughlin–fiancée of Wayne Rooney
  4. ^ "Coleen Rooney visits Lourdes with disabled sister". Now Magazine. 23 September 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Coleens Real Women". ITV.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  7. ^ "Coleen McLoughlin's Brand New Body Workout DVD". ASDA Entertainment. archive.is. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  8. ^ Hayes, David (3 July 2006). "Coleen returns to day job". Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  9. ^ "Coleen's New £2m Score". Showbiz.sky.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  10. ^ Coslett, Paul (9 March 2007). "Coleen McLoughlin". BBC News. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  11. ^ "Coleen's Real Style – Coleen Rooney – E-book". HarperCollins Publishers: World-Leading Book Publisher. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  12. ^ "Coleen Style Queen Book Series: Amazon.com". amazon.com. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  13. ^ Gregory, Elizabeth (13 October 2023). "First trailer released for Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story". Evening Standard. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Profiles: Coleen McLoughlin: Triumph of teen spirit and awful taste". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  15. ^ "Wayne and Coleen 'marry in Italy'". BBC. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  16. ^ "Wayleen's World". The Daily Telegraph. 5 December 2004. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  17. ^ "Wayne Rooney's House: A look at the footballer's luxury home". World Football Extra. 16 October 2011. Archived from the original on 4 June 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  18. ^ Ronay, Barney (2 November 2009). "Wayne Rooney's wife Coleen gives birth to baby boy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Rooneys announce arrival of baby". BBC News. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  20. ^ Rooney, Coleen [@ColeenRoo] (24 January 2016). "Our gorgeous little Boy arrived today!! Kit Joseph Rooney .... 8Ib 1oz. We are all over the moon!! 💙" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
  21. ^ Rooney, Coleen [@ColeenRoo] (15 February 2018). "So Happy to welcome our Baby Boy .... Cass Mac Rooney into the world weighing a healthy 8lb 10oz. He is beautiful 💙" (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ Our patrons Archived 11 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Alder Hey Charity. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  23. ^ Rooney, Coleen [@ColeenRoo] (9 October 2019). "This has been a burden in my life for a few years now and finally I have got to the bottom of it..." (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Khan, Coco (13 December 2019). "Why Wagatha Christie was an essential reprieve in a year of dreadful news". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  25. ^ Vardy, Rebekah [@RebekahVardy] (9 October 2019). "@ColeenRoo ..." (Tweet). Retrieved 4 December 2020 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ Brinsford, James (23 June 2020). "Rebekah Vardy sues Coleen Rooney in High Court as she launches '£1m lawsuit'". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  27. ^ Davies, Gareth (23 June 2020). "Rebekah Vardy suing Coleen Rooney over leaked Instagram stories saga". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  28. ^ "High Court rules in favour of Rebekah Vardy in libel preliminary issue trial". Matrix Law. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  29. ^ "Rebekah Vardy Wins Initial Victory in Libel Suit Against Instagram Foe Coleen Rooney". Vanity Fair. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  30. ^ "'Wagatha Christie': Vardy accused of destroying evidence as libel trial begins". TheGuardian.com. 10 May 2022.
  31. ^ "Wagatha Christie: Rebekah Vardy loses libel case against Coleen Rooney". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2022.

External links edit