Coleen McLoughlin - Welcome to My World

Wayne Rooney was part of a group of lads who used to hang around a row of shops near to where I lived. Sometimes I would wander past the local shops with my friend Claire, who’s Wayne’s cousin, and we used to see Wayne and his mates. I got on well with them all but Wayne was the cheeky one. He got it into his head that he wanted to go out with me, so whenever we saw each other he’d come out with one or two chat-up lines. ‘Can I have a date?’ he would say, or, ‘Am I gonna get a date tonight?’ My reaction was always the same. I’d never had a boyfriend before so I used to go all shy. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ I’d say, then I’d head off home with Claire.

I get on with lads but I’ve never been very good at flirting

I knew Wayne was good at football, but so were a lot of the lads from where I come from, and they’d be picked for the Everton or Liverpool youth team. Not many of them got anywhere.

Wayne was in the local papers, but only if you followed football, which I didn’t, would you have known back then that he was really good. People think Wayne was loaded when I met him but it wasn’t like that.

When we first met we’d do the same things as other kids of our age. Like going round the chippy, hanging out at each other’s houses, and seeing our mates. Just normal stuff.

Wayne, however, was never going to give up that easily. He’d walk past my house and say, ‘I’ve been waiting for the phone call!’ I never had time for boys when I was doing my GCSEs as I was focused on getting good marks. Once they were finished, I finally said yes to Wayne. Well, actually, it wasn’t that clear cut. Beforehand I had chatted to my friend Amy-Louise, who used to live across the road from us, not knowing whether I wanted to go on a date with Wayne or not. He was someone I got on well with but he wasn’t someone who immediately made me think, ‘Yeah, I’d really love to go out with him.’

A couple of weeks later that all changed. One night, Claire and I were on her bike – she was riding it and I was sitting on the back – on our way home, as usual, cycling past the chippy, when the gear chain broke. There was Wayne and a few other lads, my brothers might even have been with him, standing outside the chippy, so we shouted over asking if anyone could fix our bike. I’ve since learned that Wayne’s not exactly Mr Handyman, but he volunteered that night and somehow managed to mend it. Once he’d finished, he asked me out for a date, probably in return for his services! We started talking and the conversation must have been about my drama classes because in the end Wayne wanted to know if I had the film Grease on video, and whether he could borrow it. I said I did, and he could, and so he followed us back to my house to pick it up. I can’t quite remember how it happened, but once I’d fetched the video the two of us went for a walk and we ended up in the churchyard. That’s when we first kissed: around the back of the local church, the Queen of Martyrs. I’m sure he still hasn’t returned that Grease video.

I’d never had a proper boyfriend before, so my dad was really protective. He’s always been protective but in this case he was especially so. Dad used to help run the local boxing club, Croxteth ABA, with Wayne’s uncle Ritchie. Wayne used to go to the club and therefore he knew Wayne a little bit through his uncle Ritchie. That wasn’t a problem. But now his little girl had a boyfriend, and that was something he hadn’t experienced.

On my first date with Wayne we went to the cinema to see Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. I had told my mum of our plans and she told me to ask my dad if I could go. I was sixteen then, so I was old enough to do as I pleased, I suppose. The main reason for asking was because I didn’t know whether I was going to get home later than usual. My dad said, ‘Who are you going with?’ I replied, ‘Wayne.’ It was the first time I’d mentioned him. ‘All right,’ said my dad, ‘just as long as you sit at the back and he sits at the front!’

Dad needn’t have worried. We went with another couple, Wayne’s friend Stephen and his girlfriend Kayley. It wasn’t really a big date. We were kids, only sixteen. We weren’t old enough to go for a drink or a meal like you do when you are older, it was just meeting each other and going to the pictures.

Although I’ve said I remember everything by what outfit I had on, I can’t remember what I was wearing on the night of my first date with Wayne. I remember what Wayne was wearing – jumper and jeans, and a new pair of brown shoes he’d bought specially – but I can’t remember what I had on. What I can remember of that night is realizing how much I really did like Wayne. Whether it was love at first sight, I don’t know. We’d known each other and been friends for so long that things just seemed to grow gradually.

Over the next few weeks and months it became more serious, until the day came when I said to myself, ‘You know what, I really like him.’ Which one of us said ‘I love you’ first? I don’t even know. I can’t remember. I think it was probably Wayne.

There I was, spinning round the dance floor, a head full of champagne – but not too much! – and Robbie Williams up on stage, only a few feet away, belting out ‘Rock DJ’ – or maybe it was ‘Let Me Entertain You’, I can’t quite remember, but it was mad to see him so near. Everyone was on the dance floor enjoying themselves. It’s past midnight and you look around and there’s P. Diddy, Elle Macpherson and Jade Jagger. You turn again and there’s Sharon and Kelly Osbourne. Then around again and there was David and Victoria and half the England team up on their feet, letting themselves go. Robbie sees us and shouts over to Wayne, ‘Eh, Wazza! Do you wanna come up and join us?!’ It was amazing.

Of all the fantastic parties and red-carpet events I’ve been fortunate enough to attend over the last few years, one of the very best was David and Victoria Beckham’s pre-2006 World Cup party. It was called the ‘Full Length and Fabulous’ party, and fabulous was the best way to describe it.

Normally, when I’m invited to events, such as the Elle Style Awards or The National Television Awards, I’m hopeless at organizing and leave everything to the last minute. Mainly because you can wear whatever you want. But for David and Victoria’s party you had to wear a full-length dress – something I’m not used to wearing because I’m only small – which meant I started planning weeks ahead.

After scouting round places like Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in Manchester, I spoke to Justine at Cricket, and she had to do quite a search through look-books and designer sites on the Internet before we eventually found a beautiful aquamarine-coloured gown by Alice Temperley. That was the hard part. Picking the rest of the outfit was fun. My clutch bag was by Gina and covered in diamanté. Because of the length of the dress I had to go for a shoe with a tall heel. I tried on Christian Louboutin, Marc Jacobs and Pucci, but in the end I went for a pair by Roberto Cavalli that had the same shimmering effect as my bag. I’d worked with the jeweller Boodles before for other events, and they kindly lent me an amazing diamond necklace, which looked unbelievable. I was told it was worth £125,000, which does make a girl feel quite special, if a little worried about losing it.

On the morning of the day itself, Sunday 21 May, my hairstylist Liza, from the Barbara Daly salon in Liverpool, came over to my mum’s house, where we were staying, to do my hair. I wanted my hair up to show off the necklace, so we went through a few styles and in the end came up with this modern-beehive look. I’ve got to admit that when I first saw the bun in the mirror I went, ‘Oh no! That’s massive!’ I liked the idea, but it just felt like I had this big thing on my head! Thankfully, my mum calmed me down and said it suited me. We were travelling down south by private jet and staying in a nearby hotel before heading to David and Victoria’s home in Hertfordshire. Taking one look at my new do, Wayne said I’d better watch out going through customs in the airport in case they thought I was smuggling drugs in my hair!