Wayne Rooney wanted to settle one thing before anyone else asked. The pen is not his.
Sat next to his wife Coleen on This Morning on 25 September, the former Manchester United and England forward told Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley that the weight-loss injections dominating the social media chatter had nothing to do with how he looked at this summer’s World Cup.
“Everyone is saying I’m on this pen thing, which I’m not,” Rooney said on the ITV show.
“I wanna get that out there, I actually am working hard to try and look better and be healthier.”
Read also: Gauff calls out ‘insane’ flood of racist messages after Beijing replay row
He laid out the actual method straight after. No alcohol for a stretch, a rewrite of what he eats, and training.
“I feel great, I haven’t drank actually for a while. I just wanted to feel a bit healthier and be healthier. Obviously, eating habits are a lot better and training.”
He has shed 40 kilograms since he stopped playing, according to coverage around the Disney+ screening of his new series The Real Rooneys.
The nose surgery he kept putting off
There was a second piece he wanted on the record. The thinner face is not only the weight.
Read also: Harry Kane signs contract and seals his future
Rooney has had surgery on his nose, a procedure he had been putting off for years. The problem was mechanical.
“I couldn’t breathe properly through one of my nostrils, so I had it fixed,” he said.
The injuries that caused it are old ones. On his Disney+ show Stick to United with Mark Goldbridge, Rooney described the two breaks that eventually pushed him onto the operating table.
“I broke my nose against Preston in the FA Cup…I broke my nose in that game and then, when I went to DC United, I broke my nose again.”
Read also: Twelve goals in seven games, and now Raphinha has his new Barcelona deal
“I needed surgery but I never had it. I put it off.”
Why he stopped drinking
He also acknowledged, in the same conversation, that life after playing had been rougher than it looked.
“When I stopped playing, I got into a bit of a rut and was probably drinking a bit too much.”
Rooney and his wife Coleen have four sons, Kai, 16, Klay, 13, Kit, 10 and Cass, 8, and his explanation kept coming back to them.
Read also: I know I’ll reach his level”: Godts on closing the gap to Doue at PSG
“I wanted to enjoy time with my kids when they’re at this age, and be clean as well, and actually I’ve been more pleasant, more there with them.”
Read also: Simon Jordan goes further than anyone: ‘Disband the Premier League, recreate it’
