Coleen Rooney has revealed she suffered a miscarriage before the birth of her first son, which left her wondering if she would ever be able to have children. The 40-year-old, married to former footballer Wayne Rooney, is now a mother to four sons, but she admits she was worried about whether they could start a family.
Speaking on the We Need To Talk Podcast, Coleen said: "So I had a miscarriage before I had Kai. So the first pregnancy was a miscarriage. And that was the first thought that came into my head when it happened: 'Will I be able to have children? Will I be able to carry a child?'"
Two miscarriages and four sons
Coleen went on to say she had two miscarriages in total, but is also mother to Kai, 16, Klay, 13, Kit, 10, and Cass, 8. She gave birth to her eldest son Kai in 2009.
She added: "But with the two miscarriages, it always does play in the back of my mind: were they girls? Were they female? Am I not able to carry girls? And I do wonder that. But they don't investigate until you have three."
Coleen also spoke about how her husband Wayne was affected by the loss. She said: "It was hard. But the one thing I've always spoken about is, Wayne found it really hard. Probably he was more affected by it than I was. I always remember him saying 'I do feel it too, you know, because it's our baby.' No one really thinks about the partners, you know, you do, but it's always about the woman and them losing the baby and supporting. Whereas it's both of the parents."
Worst time and personal grief
In the same interview, Coleen described the Agatha Christie court case as the "worst time" of her life. She said: "I would say it was probably the worst time of my life. Obviously I've gone through grief, I've gone through relationship problems, but I could take control of the situations… whereas this was out of my control."
She also reflected on the loss of her foster sister Rosie, who came to the McCloughlin family as a foster child at 18 months old and was later diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a genetic disorder requiring round-the-clock care. Rosie died in January 2013 at the age of 14.
Coleen recalled: "So, Rosie was a flower girl at my wedding. Rosie is my sister, but unfortunately, she's passed now, and she was one of the foster children that came to us… At the time when she came to us, she was 18 months."
"And in the end, she got diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Rett syndrome… She needed, like, 24/7 care. And it was a lot for my mum and dad to take on. Obviously at the point when she came to foster care, we just fell in love with her and she was, you know, she was like a ray of sunshine."
"She made people realise how lucky they were in life. She was this little girl who had so many problems, but she was happy."
Coleen described the final moments with Rosie, saying: "So we got a phone call one day and it was my auntie. She'd phoned and said, 'I think you need to come home.' So we got on the next flight… We all say she held on till we got back. She wouldn't have wanted to go without us being there. And then, the hospital said 'There's not much more we can do.'"
"My dad left the hospital with my brothers and Wayne, and I travelled in the ambulance with my mum and Rosie, and we went home and it was like, that last bit of personal girly time we had, just, you know, me Mum and Rosie. So, she was in the house and we had one last sleepover… We were all in the one room. We lit candles, we had nice music on."
"We woke to Wayne's voice saying, 'She's gone.' It was heartbreaking. And I would say I did step up, as I was pregnant with my second son, Klay, at the time, and I don't think I grieved until a later stage in life."
Promotion for new Disney+ series
Coleen gave the interview as part of her promotion for the new Disney+ series The Real Rooneys, which also features her husband Wayne and their four sons. The full interview with Coleen is available on the We Need To Talk Podcast, out now.
