Coleen Rooney has told how she nearly walked out on her marriage several times over husband Wayne’s drunken antics with other women but decided to ‘work and fight’ to save it because of their love for each other.
The WAG, 37, has given a candid insight into her 20-year relationship with the former footballer and their family life in her documentary, The Real Wagatha Story.
And speaking on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Wednesday she reflected on some of the tougher times.
She explained: ‘There has always been love there between me and Wayne. I have been hurt and at times I thought I am going to walk away.
‘But I’ve weighed up the situation and decided I can go on and continue this journey. It would be shame to let that go. There is something to work and fight for.’
Kind: Coleen Rooney has told how she nearly walked out on her marriage several times over husband Wayne’s drunken antics with other women but decided to ‘work and fight’ to save it
Drama: The WAG, 37, has given a candid insight into her 20-year relationship with the former footballer and their family life in her documentary, The Real Wagatha Story
Host Emma Barnett had asked mum-of-four Coleen why she had stayed with the former England footballer after he was caught driving home party girl Laura Simpson, 29, during a boozy night out in 2017.
The incident is also recalled by Wayne in the tell-all Disney+ documentary which depicts the famous Rebekah Vardy court case from Coleen’s point of view.
Coleen met her childhood sweetheart Wayne, also 37, at the age of 12 as they grew up in the Liverpool suburb of Croxteth and they began a relationship at the age of 16.
They then tied the knot in their early 20s at a romantic wedding in Portofino, Italy, on June 12, 2008, and now share four sons – Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and Cass, five.
Elsewhere in the Radio 4 chat Coleen spoke about her fellow WAGS, saying she had ‘always got on with them’ during England matches and singled out Victoria Beckham for praise.
She said: ‘Victoria is lovely. She is a great mum, a great wife and a great businesswoman.
‘There was never any conflict and I got to know everyone’s families.’
Love: Coleen met her childhood sweetheart Wayne, also 37, at the age of 12 as they grew up in the Liverpool suburb of Croxteth and they began a relationship at the age of 16 (seen in 2006)
Candid: She explained: ‘There has always been love there between me and Wayne. I have been hurt and at times I thought I am going to walk away’
Struggles: The incident is also recalled by Wayne in the tell-all Disney+ documentary which depicts the famous Rebekah Vardy (pictured) court case from Coleen’s point of view
Coleen also said she was delighted about her husband’s new job as manager of Birmingham City, saying: ‘I am so happy to have him back in the UK.’
Elsewhere she told of the strain the infamous Wagatha Christie trail had on her and her family – a libel trial bought against her by Rebekah.
She said: ‘I have been through some tough times in my life but this was one of the toughest. Never in a million years did I think the court case would happen.
‘I didn’t want to go to court. I was terrified. I wanted to drop out of the legal battle so many times. I would cry and cry.
‘I am a strong woman but it was mentally draining. I have four boys and I was physically there looking after them but mentally not there.’
Rebekah, 41 – wife of Leicester City striker Jamie – has continued to deny she had leaked Coleen’s personal information to The Sun newspaper despite the Judge ruling against her and in Coleen’s favour.
She said: ‘I cannot comment on that. The verdict was a long time coming but it was me that was happy and that is all that matters.
‘I feel like I won, the judgment was very detailed. It was the cherry on top of the cake. It was my truth. I was telling the truth.’
Coleen told the radio show that she had decided to do the documentary because ‘it has given me time to explain from beginning to end’ what happened and ‘to process the whole journey.’
Feud: Coleen and Rebekah first met at the England v Wales, UEFA Euro 2016 match (pictured) as their husbands Wayne and Jamie were playing
She said the leaking of her posts from her private social media account had left her in ‘a bad place’ and she lay a trap to catch the culprit.
She explained: ‘I didn’t tell Wayne I was doing this. It was my problem and I didn’t want to trouble him with my worries.
‘But when he did find out while he was in America his reaction was ‘What have you done?’ ‘
Coleen also told how as the court case gathered pace Wayne got involved in the legal process and said he wanted to become a lawyer.
Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is available to stream on Disney+.
Wagatha Christie timeline: How Coleen and Rebekah’s war unfolded
September 2017 to October 2019 – The Sun runs a number of articles about Coleen, including that she travelled to Mexico to look into baby ‘gender selection’ treatment, her plan to revive her TV career and the flooding of her basement.
October 9, 2019 – Coleen uses social media to accuse Rebekah of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids.
Coleen says she spent five months attempting to work out who was sharing information about her and her family based on posts she had made on her personal social media page.
After sharing a series of ‘false’ stories and using a process of elimination, Coleen claims they were viewed by one Instagram account, belonging to Rebekah.
Rebekah, then pregnant with her fifth child, denies the allegations and says various people had access to her Instagram over the years.
She claims to be ‘so upset’ by Coleen’s accusation, later adding: ‘I thought she was my friend but she completely annihilated me.’
The public dispute makes headlines around the world, with the hashtag #WagathaChristie trending.
How it all began: On October 9, 2019, Coleen Rooney, now 36, accused Rebekah Vardy, 40, of leaking ‘false stories’ about her to the press in an Instagram post (above)
February 13, 2020 – In a tearful appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Rebekah says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she ‘ended up in hospital three times’. Coleen says in a statement that she does not want to ‘engage in further public debate’.
Shortly after Coleen’s public accusation, Rebekah – who was pregnant and on holiday in Dubai at the time – denied any involvement (above)
June 23, 2020 – It emerges that Rebekah has launched libel proceedings against Coleen.
Rebekah’s lawyers allege she ‘suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment as a result of the publication of the post and the events which followed’.
November 19-20, 2020 – The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London. A judge rules that Coleen’s October 2019 post ‘clearly identified’ Rebekah as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’.
Mr Justice Warby concludes that the ‘natural and ordinary’ meaning of the posts was that Rebekah had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Coleen’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun of Coleen’s private posts and stories’.
February 8-9, 2022 – A series of explosive messages between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt – which Coleen’s lawyers allege were about her – are revealed at a preliminary court hearing.
The court is told Rebekah was not referring to Coleen when she called someone a ‘nasty b***h’ in one exchange with Ms Watt.
Coleen’s lawyers seek further information from the WhatsApp messages, but the court is told that Ms Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, before further information could be extracted from it.
February 14 – Coleen is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle. A High Court judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, says the bid was brought too late and previous opportunities to make the claim had not been taken.
April 13 – Ms Watt is not fit to give oral evidence at the upcoming libel trial, the High Court is told as the case returns for another hearing.
The agent revokes permission for her witness statement to be used, and withdraws her waiver which would have allowed Sun journalists to say whether she was a source of the allegedly leaked stories.
April 29 – Rebekah ‘appears to accept’ that her agent was the source of allegedly leaked stories, Coleen’s barrister David Sherborne tells the High Court. He argues that a new witness statement submitted by Rebekah suggests Ms Watt was the source but Rebekah claims she ‘did not authorise or condone her’.
Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson says the statement did not contain ‘any change whatever in the pleaded case’, with her legal team having no communication with Ms Watt.
