Glamorous: In a feather and fur gown and Valentino sandals, a confident Coleen Rooney poses for her photoshoot with the Eiffel tower in the background
The message is clear. Sophisticated, sexy and defiant, Coleen Rooney has the camera, and her husband, fixed firmly in her sights.
This is Coleen reinvented from girl-next-door to sultry vamp; a woman not to be messed with, all grown-up, strong, desirable, not to be overlooked.
Why play away when you’ve got this at home? And yes, Wayne, she’s talking to you.
This exclusive picture was taken for HELLO! magazine in Paris last week and shows Coleen poised, confident and staking her claim barely three months after news broke that Wayne had cheated on her with prostitutes while she was pregnant with their son Kai, now one.
Head to toe in haute couture, with feather and fur gown by Zuhair Murad and sandals by Valentino, she is a world away from the self-conscious 16-year-old of yesteryear.
A fact of which she clearly felt her faithless husband needed reminding.
Forget prostitutes Jennifer Thompson and Helen Wood in their skimpies.
The glamorous shoot comes at the end of a torrid year during which Coleen has had to struggle not only with revelations of her husband’s behaviour, but with the worsening health of her adoptive sister Rosie, who has the rare brain disorder Rhett’s syndrome and suffered a stroke in September.
At the time, devout Roman Catholic Coleen made a pilgrimage to Lourdes to pray for her.
But, pictured last week at one of Paris’s most iconic locations, there is little sign of 24-year-old Coleen’s heartaches and anxieties in either the images or the forthright interview that accompanies them.
Asked about the controversy surrounding her husband’s recent contract negotiations with Manchester United – his threat to leave the club secured a record-breaking £250,000 a week – Coleen is unapologetic.
At the time fans were so incensed that one night a mob of 30 turned up at the gates of the family home. Coleen revealed: ‘They came looking intimidating, as if it was done to frighten us.’
But she insisted: ‘Of course Wayne earns a lot of money but don’t forget he quite rightly pays a lot of tax too. And he pays it in Britain, whereas other footballers pay less tax in countries where they weren’t born. So although he does earn loads, he pays his dues.’
Wayne, 25, has been doing a lot of paying of his dues recently.
Last month the couple threw a £90,000 first birthday party for Kai. Coleen said: ‘We had about 60 kids there and it was really magical.
Everywhere you looked there were little Woodies and Buzz Lightyears and princesses running around. Kai was dressed as Winnie the Pooh and he just loved it.’
That same month Wayne and Coleen travelled to Dubai for a £30,000 romantic holiday a deux in an effort to piece together their marriage following revelations of Wayne’s infidelity.
Pictures of Coleen taken during that trip sparked rumours that the WAG turned TV presenter, designer and global brand had undergone a boob job. Not true, according
to Coleen.
Happier times: Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen were rocked by news of his infidelity
Prostitutes: Helen Wood, left, and Jennifer Thompson were at the centre of the Wayne Rooney scandal
‘I do find it weird that people sit there analysing my body like that,’ she said. ‘The secret is halter-neck bikinis. In some of the supposed “before” shots I was in a bandeau bikini and they don’t do me any justice. A halter-neck bikini pulls you up.’
The Paris photoshoot is the first stage of a concerted effort on Coleen’s part to shake off her recent troubles.
It is part of a campaign that could see her presenting on the most watched television show of the year.
She has been asked to host a live segment of The X Factor from her native Liverpool should Anfield-based Rebecca Ferguson make it through this weekend’s semi-final.
More than 20 million viewers are expected to tune in to see the winner crowned next Sunday, and a spokesman for the show has confirmed that talks with Coleen are at an advanced stage.
Coleen is also about to make her design debut with a collection of 25 pieces for Littlewoods catalogue, to be released just before New Year’s Eve.
According to one friend: ‘It’s been a tough time for her recently but Coleen’s in a good place now.
She feels back in control and good about herself. She and Wayne had a fabulous family christening for Kai in Scotland just after she got back from Paris.’
The friend added: ‘Coleen’s happy and confident again and it shows. She really does feel that things are back on track for her and for Wayne, Kai and her as a family.’
* Read the full interview in HELLO! on sale tomorrow.
Source:Dailymail