Featured Image Credit: Getty/ITV
Topics: Wayne Rooney, Football
Luke Davies
Coleen Rooney has ‘banned’ her husband, Wayne Rooney, from visiting her in Australia while she takes part in I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
The 38-year-old contestant is reportedly the joint-highest paid (£1.5m according to the Independent) star to take part in the show alongside MP and 2023 member of the show Nigel Farage.
Coleen is thought to be under strict rules to secure her payday.
The Liverpool-born media personality has been married to the former England and Manchester United star since June 2008, having tied the knot at a lavish ceremony in June 2008.
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Usually, once a campmate is voted out of the show, they are met by friends and family at the end of a bridge on the edge of the jungle - but it is thought that Wayne will not be present when Coleen leaves the show.
The reason for this is that she doesn’t want to ‘deter attention’ away from her ‘big moment’ given the widespread popularity of her husband, who is now manager of the Championship side Plymouth Argyle.
“This is Coleen’s big moment, and she wants to ensure that nothing gets in the way of that or deters the attention from her comeback, which she fears Wayne’s presence could do,” a source told Closer.
“Given all the public and private storms they've weathered over the years, she doesn’t want to risk having their marriage being thrust back into the spotlight and her time in the jungle being overshadowed by any negativity that could come with Wayne’s appearance.
“They had some difficult talks and weighed up the pros and cons of him flying out to meet her, and while Wayne really wanted to be there and insisted he could get cover for the games he’d miss, Coleen was pretty adamant that this needed to be her moment to shine and said his work commitments would be the perfect disguise to cover-up her decision to avoid anything potentially destroying or overshadowing that.”
Her exploits in Australia will not be the first time the couple have had to spend large periods of time apart, given the fact Wayne moved to the US signing for D.C United, first as a player between 2018 and 2019 before returning to Washington as a manager in 2022.
Plymouth is around a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Cheshire - where the family are thought to be based.
But Coleen explained how the situation was – before she entered the jungle – in an interview published on September 21, 2024.
“We thought long and hard about it [moving to Devon], but with the kids, it didn’t work,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
“We see him a couple of times a week, which is good,” she added.
“He [Wayne Rooney] went to America, so this is a bonus because even though it seems like far away, it’s easier to get to than Washington, DC.
“There’s lots of FaceTime, and he always phones when we’re going out of the door in the morning. I’m like, ‘Just wait till we’re in the car. I’ve got no time.’”