‘I was ashamed’ – Coleen Rooney reveals tattoo Man Utd legend husband Wayne got which left her squirming at party
COLEEN ROONEY has revealed how she felt “ashamed” when husband-to-be Wayne went tattoo far with his teenage love.
But the awkward etching exchange ended with him explaining they would be “together forever”.
Coleen, 38, and the 39-year-old Manchester United legend wed in 2008.
But now she’s told of some tricky moments from the past, as well as the pressure Wayne‘s status sometimes put on their family.
And one episode in particular stands out – from even before they got engaged in 2003 when she was 17.
It began when Coleen got a shock as the childhood sweethearts prepared to go out.
She explained to Sky Bet‘s Stick To Football podcast, hosted by ex-United defender Gary Neville, how it started with an odd phone call.
The 2024 I’m a Celebrity runner-up told Nev: “We were going to a party as one of our friends was turning 18, who was a bit older than us.
“That day, I got a phone call, and it was his cousin who asked me if I spelled my name with one L or two L’s.
“I said one L and asked why, and he said he was in the town with Wayne who was getting a tattoo!”
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It appears it could have spelt disaster for him – but instead he found ‘one L’ of a way to get out of it.
Coleen continued: “He walks into the party with his top off, showing everyone – I felt ashamed.
“He told me it was fine because we were going to be together forever.”
She also recalls one of their four kids, 15-year-old son Kai, missing a spot-kick “a few years ago” because of an insult about Wayne.
Coleen said: “Kai stepped up and just skied it.
“Afterwards I asked him how he could take a penalty like that, and he told me he was just fuming as the goalkeeper was saying: ‘Your dad’s sh*t’ and he got dead angry.
“It doesn’t happen to him very often, but it did then… He’s strong-minded though and usually shrugs it off.”
Kai, now 15, has put it behind him – as he’s now a junior with the Red Devils, and a lethal striker like his dad.
Meanwhile, ex-England skipper Wayne is looking for a new job after Championship bottom side Plymouth sacked him as boss a fortnight ago.
Wayne Rooney's record-breaking career
WAYNE Rooney took the football world by storm when he made his debut for 2002 with Everton.
He quickly became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years and 342 days and was named the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year.
The striker joined Manchester United in 2004 and spent 13 years at Old Trafford. He went on to make 559 appearances for the Red Devils and scored 253 goals. To this day he is still the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Following his spell with United, Rooney returned to Everton for a season. He also spent one-season stints with D.C. United and Derby County at the end of his career.
As well as his impressive club career, Rooney is also England’s second-highest goalscorer with 53 goals in 120 appearances, behind only Harry Kane.
After hanging up his boots, the England icon turned to a career in management.
He took charge of Derby County in 2020 and managed to just about save the club from relegation from the Championship at the end of his first season.
However, with Derby handed a 21-point deduction the following campaign, he was unable to keep them up again and subsequently left.
Then came a 15-month spell in charge of MLS side D.C. United. He failed to impress during his time in Washington and parted ways with the club at the end of the 2023 regular season.
Rooney was controversially handed the Birmingham job in October 2023, replacing John Eustace with the club doing well and sixth in the Championship table.
However, in 15 games he suffered nine defeats and managed just two wins. He was sacked in January 2024 with Birmingham down in 20th. The club were relegated to League One at the end of the campaign.
He returned to management in May with Plymouth Argyle but managed just five wins in 25 games. The United legend now finds himself out of work once again.