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Coleen Rooney, the wife of philandering footballer Wayne Rooney, made waves when she recently shared a snap of her and her husband alongside their eldest son Kai and a friend.
The 35-year-old WAG captioned the post: "Had a brilliant time at @thorpeparkofficial. Thank you very much for looking after us, much appreciated."
The photo, which showed the pair looking all smiles, is the first time they’ve been pictured together since Wayne was caught partying with three 21-year-old blondes in a hotel room in late July.
The leaked pictures – which showed the former Everton footballer enjoying a night of revelry with social media influencers Tayler Ryan, Elise Melvin and Brooke Morgan – quickly went viral and he later issued a public apology to his wife and four kids.
Fans might have been calling for the mother of sons Kai (11), Klay (8), Kit (5) and five-year-old Cass to end her and Wayne’s 13-year marriage, but her latest post proves that she’s already put his latest cheating scandal behind her.
The incriminating snaps of Wayne, currently football side Derby County’s manager, aren't the first time his cheating ways have made headlines in his and Coleen’s 19-year relationship.
The former Manchester United midfielder began visiting prostitutes as a teenager.
In 2002, he paid 21-year-old sex worker Charlotte Glover to sleep with her, leaving her an autograph as a souvenir. The following month, he had sex with Gina McCarrick (then 37) and a 48-year-old woman dubbed “Auld Slapper”, who wore a rubber catsuit. CCTV footage at the Liverpool brothel both women worked at showed Wayne visiting the establishment 10 times.
After the news broke, Wayne issued an apology, calling himself "young and stupid".
In her 2007 autobiography, Welcome to My World, Coleen wrote she was devastated but said it had happened before their relationship became serious.
But in 2010 it was reported that he’d been seeing a £1 200-a-night (then about R15 600) prostitute, with their last encounter occurring in October 2009, a month before Kai's birth.
The following year, he reportedly had a threesome with that prostitute and another sex worker. Coleen forgave him yet again, and they went on to have Klay and Kit.
But in 2017, when Coleen was pregnant with Cass, he was arrested for drink-driving after being pulled over by officers following a boozy night out, driving party girl Laura Simpson in her car. Laura said they'd had a "kiss and a cuddle" and apologised to Coleen, who had called her to find out what happened.
In 2019, after moving to America to join Washington DC United, he was seen partying late into the night with a barmaid in Florida's Clearwater Beach. Later that year, he was seen heading into a lift in a hotel with a mystery brunette.
Through all of it Coleen has loyally stuck by Wayne, leaving many questioning why.
“Coleen’s got a new perfume coming out — introducing Eau De Doormat!” one Twitter user joked.
“She should bring out a doormat range!” added another said, and for a while, the hashtag #doormat was trending.
“Coleen needs to leave Wayne — she’s an embarrassment,” penned another, while others branded her a “bad role model”.
Many pointed out that Coleen is a brand in her own right, and hardly needs her husband to earn a crust.
She’s launched her own fitness videos, fronted a successful clothing line for British retailer Littlewoods and authored seven books. Coleen personal’s net worth is estimated to be £13,8 million (R282,9 million), and she boasts close to 900 000 followers on her public Instagram page.
But despite Wayne’s past indiscretions, Coleen has made it clear on more than one occasion that she’s determined to make their marriage work for her children’s sake.
"People might say she’s weak, but she’s not letting something like this ruin her whole marriage. No matter what has happened, he’s a great father and a great provider,” a source close to her says.
"Her family and her boys are so important to her. Wayne has been a great support to Coleen, and nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors."
She previously issued a very personal statement about her marriage in 2017, saying: “. . . a few people are probably thinking I am stupid for staying in my marriage. I am not stupid; I know my own mind and it’s something I want to try and work on.”
She added: “I know I would be fine on my own, with just me and my children, but I don't want to live like that. I want to try to continue our marriage and live as a family, because that’s what I want to do."
Coleen and Wayne, who are both from Liverpool, are the ultimate childhood sweethearts. They started dating aged 16, just after they left secondary school, and tied the knot in 2008.
British relationship psychologist Jo Hemmings says that being with Wayne from such a young age has likely made Coleen reluctant to let go of what they have.
“Their 13-year marriage has definitely had more than its fair share of scandals and difficulties,” she tells Fabulous Digital. “I think Coleen appreciates that Wayne, while seemingly very weak-willed in terms of having his head turned at the slightest provocation, is also someone she has known since she was a child."
Jo added: “Having come this far, she is prepared to tolerate a marriage which in spite of its challenges, she is determined to stick with and see through, all the while ‘protecting’ her husband from the press. It could be love. It could be determination . . . but I don’t think either could imagine life without the other.”
Sources: mirror.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk, thesun.co.uk, manchestereveningnews.co.uk, independent.co.uk
