ROONEY ROMANCE: 'WE STILL LOVE EACH OTHER'

COLEEN AND WAYNE MARK 15 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

- MITYA UNDERWOOD

As one of the WAG couples whose relationship has had more than its fair share of drama, Coleen and Wayne Rooney will prove cynics wrong this week when they celebrate 15 years of marriage. It’s a milestone many doubted they’d reach, as the former childhood sweethearts, both now 37, have had a tumultuous time since vowing to spend the rest of their lives together at their wedding in Italy, covered by OK! in June 2008.

Coleen, who has sons Kai,13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and five-year-old Cass with Wayne, has repeatedly shown fierce loyalty to her footballer husband and has pulled them back from the brink of splitting up more than once.

“I know people say, ‘Oh, were they just staying together to keep the family unit together?” she revealed recently in the Amazon Prime documentary Rooney. “That was part of it – but also we still love each other.”

Coleen is far from naive, having learnt the hard way that the exchanging of wedding vows is only the start of the work it takes to keep a marriage together. “Hopefully he’s learnt and he doesn’t get himself into any of those horrible situations again,” she said of her decisions to stick by her long-term love’s past misdemeanours. “But it’s happened and I’ve got to live with it and if I couldn’t cope with living with it I would have ended the relationship.”

As the daughter of hard-working Catholic parents, Coleen has remained by Wayne’s side through thick, thin and everything in between, often seeking comfort and advice from her mum and dad. Colette and Tony McLoughlin have been invaluable in helping their daughter block out the noise and unsolicited opinions about her relationship.