'Bad Place to Be': Wayne Rooney Reveals He Thought Alcohol Could Kill Him

© REUTERS / Action Images / Matthew ChildsEngland's Wayne Rooney
England's Wayne Rooney - Sputnik International, 1920, 10.02.2022
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Wayne Rooney is the record goalscorer for both the England national football team and Manchester United. Now the manager of EFL Championship club Derby County, Rooney is widely considered to be one of the best players of his generation.
Wayne Rooney, arguably one of the best English footballers, spoke about several "mistakes" he had made throughout his life, particularly those he feared could have killed him.
In a conversation with BBC before the release of a new documentary about his life, Rooney said that dying was his biggest fear in his darkest moments, when he was plagued by issues with alcohol and mental health.
"That could have been girls, it could have been drink-driving, which I've done, it could have been killing someone - you could kill yourself - and that's a bad place to be," Rooney said, when recalling the mistakes of his past. "I knew I needed help, to save myself but also to save my family."
However, reaching out for help was not an option for him back at the time, as he said some 10-15 years ago he "couldn't go into the changing room and say 'I'm struggling with alcohol, I'm struggling mental health-wise'".
Despite his impressive achievements during his football career (he is the top goalscorer for both Man United and England national team), Rooney had frequently discovered himself in trouble over various things - from excessive drinking to allegations of infidelity.
In the upcoming documentary, the iconic English footballer takes a look back at his past and reflects on it. Particularly, he reveals that fighting and drinking could have derailed his career ever since he was a talented and promising teen player. Rooney also shared that back in 2006, he intentionally sought out to hurt one of Chelsea's players, John Terry, by wearing longer studs than usual.
When it comes to infidelity allegations, Rooney and his wife Colleen say they worked through it as a family.
"I put myself in a bad place, and when there's alcohol involved, you're going to make bad decisions and you're going to have to suffer the consequences. It doesn't take away any of my love for Colleen," Rooney reveals in the documentary, with his wife agreeing it was bad for him to be left "unsupervised".
Between 2010 and 2011, allegations of Rooney cheating on his wife emerged in the media, with former escort Helen Wood claiming the footballer paid £1,000 for a threesome with her and TV personality Jennifer Thompson when Colleen was five months pregnant. In 2017, Rooney was arrested by the English police for drunk driving; later in 2018, he was charged with public intoxication and use of profanity in Virginia.
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