Wayne Rooney's lovers and liaisons now from 'auld slapper' to Big Brother winner

I'm A Celeb's most high-profile contestant this year is undoubtedly Coleen Rooney, the 38-year-old known for being married to footballer Wayne and her "Wagatha Christie" court win

Coleen Rooney is heading Down Under into the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here jungle, with husband Wayne Rooney posting a sweet message of support.

The Plymouth Argyle manager shared the official post that his wife would appear in the ITV reality show with three supportive emojis - applause, a love heart and a kiss. Coleen, 38 and Wayne, 39, have been married for 16 years but it's certainly been a rollercoaster ride, thanks to the former Manchester United star's infidelities.

"You could draw a line under it but, with me and Wayne, I've always said, there was always love still there," the former WAG told Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast. "So why throw it away when you can work at it. If you work at it, and it doesn't work, then forget about it and go your own separate ways. But there's always been love... we never wanted to part."

Ahead of her appearance Down Under, the Mirror takes a look back at the other women in Wayne's life over the years and find out where they are now...

Patricia Tierney

Cruelly nicknamed the "Auld Slapper", Patricia was 48 when she was alleged to have slept with Wayne back in 2004. In at least 10 late night visits to a £45-a-time brothel in Liverpool, the teenage footballer is said to have bedded Gina McCarrick, then 37, as well as Patricia, then 48.

Then a grandmother-of-16, Patricia spent a decade fighting to clear her name, insisting she was the receptionist at Diva's massage parlour and hadn't slept with Wayne or any other customers. But her legal battle against The Sun newspaper was withdrawn when it was reported she had told police she worked as a prostitute in a statement in May 2002.

"At the time I was working as a receptionist at the parlour," Patricia said of the scandal in 2012, two years after it was reported she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. "I didn't even know who Wayne Rooney was and I never had sex with him. I wrote letters to Coleen afterwards explaining everything but she never answered me." Patricia has not appeared in public since then.

Helen Wood

In 2010 Wayne hit the headlines when it was alleged he had a night of passion with sex workers Jennifer Thompson and Helen Wood - while Coleen was five months pregnant with their first child at home. Helen, a single mother who went into prostitution after getting into debt at the age of 19, became well-known overnight.

The sex worker later sold her side of the story to the Sunday Mirror for £40,000, claiming Wayne told her after the group sex encounter: "Why the hell did I do that? I feel really s*** already - I'm begging you two not to say anything. It will ruin my marriage if it gets out. Having a kid means everything to me."

Helen, 38, went onto star in Big Brother in 2014, where she won over viewers and netted the £100,000 prize. She bagged a column in the Daily Star until 2017 and in 2019 she published a tell-all book, A Man's World, which revealed she had ditched sex work and was caring for her mum, who suffered from dementia.

The Big Brother winner now lives a more low-key life and is thought to be working as a cosmetic tattooist in Dublin. Back in 2019, she told New Magazine: "I've been single for years. I can't go on a date because men just see me as the Wayne Rooney escort."

Jennifer Thompson

Jennifer, or Jenny, was the other sex worker involved in the infamous threesome at Manchester's five-star Lowry Hotel, for which she was paid £1,000. She claimed she bedded the footballer ten times in total.

The 33-year-old later told the Sun she had contemplated suicide following the 2011 scandal. She became a mum to Izabella two years later and says parenthood "saved me".

The former sex worker wrote a book about her time in the profession, Bang To Rights, the same year and in 2017 announced plans to write a second book revealing all about her romps with former Manchester City ace Mario Balotelli.

In last year's autobiography My Account, Wayne's wife Coleen told how her friends had once chased Jenny off when they bumped into each other at Liverpool club Mosquito. "The club was in a Liverpool basement and while a couple of my mates were outside smoking a cigarette, they spotted Jenny on her way in," she said. "'The cheeky b****h. I bet she knows you're here', Louise said.

"We couldn't have known that but that was the conclusion my over-protective mates jumped to. 'Right! We're going out there to tell her to get lost', Claire said. 'You stay here'."

"From what I gathered after, there'd been no violence, but they did end up chasing her down the street, shouting all sorts at her as she fled. It was all in the heat of the moment, and they were angry on my behalf. What could I say?"

Laura Simpson

Office worker Laura, 36, was famously in the passenger seat of her VW Beetle with the former England footballer when he was pulled over by police following a boozy night out in Cheshire. Coleen was heavily pregnant with the couple's fourth child at the time.

The sportsman pleaded guilty to drink driving following his arrest, banned from driving for two years and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service. He had met Laura in an Alderley Edge club but she insisted they only kissed and hugged.

"Yes he's a bit of a lad, and I was drunk but I was doing nothing wrong. I'm not a marriage wrecker," The Sun reported her saying at the time. Coleen didn't feel the same - she was reported to have phoned Laura to demand details of her night with her husband. Wayne later publicly apologised to his wife and football club for his drunken behaviour.