Wayne Rooney Reveals How Coleen Saved Him From Alcohol and Self-Destruction

Wayne Rooney has opened up about one of the darkest struggles of his life, admitting that if not for his wife Coleen, he might not even be alive today.

The former England and Manchester United forward said on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast that during his playing days, alcohol almost consumed him. At the peak of his career, Rooney confessed he would sometimes go on two-day drinking sprees, show up at training, score goals on the weekend, and then slip right back into the same cycle.

Looking back now, the 39-year-old is brutally honest about what saved him: Coleen. In his own words, “She helped me control that massively… I honestly believe if she weren’t there, I’d be dead.”

Rooney and Coleen have known each other since their teenage years in Liverpool. They started dating in secondary school and married in 2008. From early on, she noticed his restless energy obsessed with football but also drawn to wild nights out. She wasn’t just his partner; she became his anchor, keeping him steady when fame and alcohol threatened to derail his life.

The ex-Man United striker even admitted to hiding his drinking from Sir Alex Ferguson, chewing gum and using eye drops to mask the nights he spent out. But hiding never really worked and the consequences caught up with him in the public eye. From his 2017 drink-driving arrest to later charges of public intoxication in the US, Rooney has had to face mistakes, shame, and headlines that followed.

But through it all, Coleen stayed. They built a family with four children and, despite all the storms, she kept him from slipping too far. Today, Rooney has shifted gears. No longer coaching at Plymouth Argyle, he now runs his own BBC podcast and appears on Match of the Day, a different chapter, one that feels like survival and second chances.