The Real Coleen

Coleen McLoughlin is worth £6million in her own right, she’s pretty and – infuriatingly – likeable. Barely 21 and wearing red-soled Christian Louboutin heels, white blouse and smoky mascara, she looks like a schoolgirl dressed up in her mum’s threads as she comes chattering in.

She should be all too easy to envy – and loathe. Wayne Rooney’s photogenic fiancee has a wildly lucrative exercise video, a magazine column and TV show.

She is the £3million face of George at Asda, the author of a best-selling autobiography and has just launched her own “citrussy” perfume – Coleen X.

She’s even set the date for her wedding – sometime in 2008 – and is busy planning a lavish ceremony. “I’ve got to get cracking,” she says, breathlessly. “I’ve only got a year.”

But there’s no guile to her. She isn’t showing off – or even trying terribly hard. She’d just rather be busy. “My dad always says, ‘Never say bored’ – he hates that word. Yes, I could put my feet up. But I wouldn’t want that.

“When I was little I always had something on – dance lessons, drama. And I wanted a career. After school I worked at New Look – they gave me a discount off the clothes.

“But when I moved in with Wayne, I was pretty much just looking after the house. Then a magazine offered me a column. And it was my dream job – writing about fashion in a magazine I used to buy anyway. Since then, everything else has come to me. But people must have seen something and thought: ‘We’ll give Coleen a go’.”

As a working-class girl from Croxteth who left school with no A-Levels, her life has morphed beyond recognition. She and Wayne live behind electronic gates in a multi-million pound Cheshire pile, with a swimming pool, and personal gym.

At her glitzy 21st four months ago, her 300 guests were treated to stilt-walkers and female contortionists cavorting on mirrored plinths.

But Coleen is adamant that nothing of consequence has changed. “People think my life has altered dramatically but it hasn’t really. My life’s still my life – my friends and family and Wayne.

“I see the other wives and girlfriends at matches, but I have my own circle who I go out with at weekends. And they treat me the same as they always did.

“The material things – the handbags, the shoes – are just a bonus. I’ve always been interested in fashion. The only difference is now I’m lucky enough to be able to buy the expensive things outright. Before, I would still have bought them – it would have just taken me a long, long time to save up.”

Coleen has known Wayne, 21, since she was 12. They grew up together – his mother was the cleaner and dinner lady at her school. But she repeatedly brushed off his pleas for a date.

His chance came two years later when he saw her struggling to fix her bicycle chain – and rode over to help. He said later: “I was fed up asking but, this time, she said yes.”

And though Coleen is here to promote her perfume and her new ITV show, Coleen’s Real Women – in which she helps “ordinary women” become models – she can’t help but talk about Wayne.

You might as well ask her not to breathe. “You need a good balance to make a relationship work,” she says.

“We’ve both got a good sense of humour and we like to have a laugh. What else do we have in common? Love, obviously. But we’re different in other ways. Wayne’s very calm – he’s not impulsive.

“He’s dead easy-going, but quite shy. It’s hard for him to take to people straightaway – he’s not chatty, like me. I’ll talk to anyone. His career is so focused. And he does let his hair down at home. We like to relax, put our ‘jamas on and just watch telly. Normal stuff.”

Despite a well-publicised blip three years ago, Wayne would seem to have more than learned his lesson. “I do get fed-up,” admits Coleen. “We row over stupid things. But Wayne is always the first to say: ‘Oh, just forget about it, let’s leave it there.’ He’ll apologise – even it’s my fault.”

And despite their wealth – the Manchester United and England star is worth more than £60million – theirs is a cosily suburban existence. Every Monday – when Wayne is home – they stay in for their “Mad Mondays” ritual. “We watch all the soaps – Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders – and I’ll cook or we get in a Chinese takeaway.”

When Wayne’s away, Coleen might well watch TV with her mum Colette, 45. “It’s lovely to have these little breaks. It help keep the relationship fresh. I still get those feelings. When he’s due back I still get butterflies in my tummy. I miss him loads.” Wayne proposed in his car four years ago. Parked up on a petrol station forecourt – hardly the most romantic venue. But Coleen’s eyes gleam convincingly at the memory as she twiddles her engagement ring – an emerald-cut diamond the size of a satsuma.

“We were on our way to a restaurant but pulled in at a garage – Wayne needed a cash machine. When he came back and pulled out the ring, I was made up. We went back to my mum’s and had dinner there with candles. A glass of champagne and corn beef hash.”

Despite the inevitable entourage, Coleen is crashingly normal. She was mocked by critics who claimed her earlier perfume-promoting picture had been airbrushed after she turned up last month looking heavier.

The photo truly hadn’t been touched up,” she says. “We’d just been on holiday in the South of France and then Las Vegas. And I put on about half a stone. I do like to look good, but I like to enjoy myself too – a drink and something to eat.”

She is the oldest of four children and her parents – bricklayer Tony, 48, and nurse Colette – are also foster carers. Growing up in a house full of children invariably leaves you either craving – or dreading – a family of your own. Coleen is evangelical.

“I want to have children one day – I don’t like being alone and I love to have family around me.

But my priority now is to get married and then we’ll see. I don’t tend to look too much into the future.” That future would seem unremittingly bright. She has gone from the teenage frump to a svelte icon who graces magazine covers and harbours dreams of acting.

Few would bet against her. “I don’t really have a role model. But I do admire Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex In The City. And Victoria (Beckham) always dresses fabulous. I am comfy in my skin and confident, but would never say I was stunning – that would be too vain.

“But I think people can relate to me. Women come up and say, ‘Where did you get that outfit?’ And men ask, ‘It’s the wife’s birthday, what perfume should I buy?’

“My following is totally different to Wayne’s. And that’s nice. I’m not like, ‘Wayne’s got it, so I’ve got to have it too.’ But it is rather lovely.” She giggles.

And, amid a sweet whiff of lemons, dashes out to call Wayne again.

Coleen X is available from Selfridges, priced £19.99.