![\"Wayne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/01K2P9V3Q8JAD6ERRZZRKWPCGQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Wayne and Coleen Rooney. Photo credit: Yui Mok\/PA Wire.<\/p>\n
Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney has opened up on his struggles with alcohol and said he believes his wife Coleen Rooney saved his life by helping him through dark times.<\/p>\n
Rooney, 39, told former team-mate Rio Ferdinand that his drinking would often go \u201ctoo far\u201d and revealed he once turned up to training at United after binging for \u201ctwo days straight\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got to a point where I went too far, of course it did,\u201d Rooney said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, where United\u2019s all-time record goalscorer opened up on his insecurities and vulnerabilities during his record-breaking playing career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a moment in my life where I was struggling massively with alcohol. Massively struggling and I didn’t think I could turn to anyone. I didn’t really want to because I didn’t want to put that burden on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember going into training and putting eyes drops in, chewing gum,” Rooney said of the time he reported to training at United. \u201cI just drank for two days straight, come [into] training and at the weekend I’d scored two goals and then I’d go back and go and drink for two days straight again.”<\/p>\n
Rooney said his wife Coleen, who he grew up with in Croxteth, Liverpool, needed to \u201cmanage\u201d him and revealed that he believes he would be \u201cdead\u201d without her supporting him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 17 she could see, she knew my mind and she knew I was a bit out there,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cYou know, I loved my football, obsessed with football but also I loved a night out or whatever going out.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe’s seen it very early on and she’s controlled that. Well, not controlled but helped me control that massively. And at times you’re like ‘what are you doing?’ Why do you keep saying ‘don’t do this or don’t do that?’ How she’s managed me because I needed managing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly believe if she [Coleen] weren’t there I’d be dead. I believe that. And what she’s done, how she … And it’s annoying at times and I’m like, what are you doing? And you get annoyed and everything she’s doing is to keep me here and keep me … the best person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve made mistakes in the past which are well documented and whatever, but I’m a little bit different at times and she keeps me on that path and she’s done it for 20-odd years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wayne and Coleen Rooney. Photo credit: Yui Mok\/PA Wire. Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,8255,19,17,20,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-83190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-everton","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-manchester-united","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}