Why Coleen Rooney has banned Wayne from making I’m A Celebrity jungle trip – with Man Utd legend saying he could ‘get cover for the games he’d miss’ as Plymouth boss

The Manchester United legend is currently separated from his wife by 10,000 miles, with Coleen taking the decision to head Down Under and experience life in the Australian jungle. She is said to be earning the biggest fee ever handed out by ITV, but is taking on a new challenge in a bid to give the British public a better understanding of what she is all about.

With that in mind, it is claimed that ex-England captain Wayne is being told to stay away – in order to avoid casting any publicity shadows over his long-time partner. He does have other business to contend with in England, having returned to club management, but was confident that he could get time off to head to Oz alongside his four sons.

A source has told Closer of why that will not be happening: “This is Coleen’s big moment and she wants to ensure that nothing gets in the way of that or deters the attention from her comeback, which she fears Wayne’s presence could do.

“Given all the public and private storms they've weathered over the years, she doesn’t want to risk having their marriage being thrust back into the spotlight and her time in the jungle being overshadowed by any negativity that could come with Wayne’s appearance.

“They had some difficult talks and weighed up the pros and cons of him flying out to meet her and while Wayne really wanted to be there and insisted he could get cover for the games he’d miss, Coleen was pretty adamant that this needed to be her moment to shine and said his work commitments would be the perfect disguise to cover-up her decision to avoid anything potentially destroying or overshadowing that.”

Wayne is currently living apart from his family, as he needs to be based in Devon, but assured Coleen that he will be a rock back home – alongside mother-in-law Colette – while she tackles Bushtucker trials in Australia. Closer’s source added: “Coleen was understandably incredibly emotional leaving them and had a couple of wobbles where she had second thoughts, but ultimately she knew that she needed to do this for herself and embrace the experience and all that comes with it after putting her career on hold for the last 15 years.

“Wayne vowed to be her anchor at home alongside her parents and while he was initially upset with her decision to keep him back, he respected her reasons knowing that this is her time and after everything he's put her through, he needs to focus on supporting her 100% and doing everything in his power to ensure this experience is everything she's hoping it will be.”

Coleen, who has already discussed her infamous ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial with Rebekah Vardy, is expected to have plenty of interesting stories to tell around the camp fire about Wayne and her A-list friends. Her husband, meanwhile, will see Plymouth back in action on Friday when playing host to Watford.