Coleen Rooney breaks down in tears as she opens up about household tragedy and bonds with fellow I’m A Celeb campmate Barry McGuigan over grief

Coleen Rooney was in tears as she opened up about the loss of her little sister Rosie during Monday’s I’m A Celeb.

The WAG, 38, spoke to her campmates about Rosie, who tragically passed away in 2013 aged 14 after a lifelong battle with Rett syndrome, a rare brain disorder that causes severe disabilities.

The emotional conversation began when Coleen’s campmate, boxer Barry McGuigan, 63, broke down as he spoke about his late daughter Danika who lost her battle with cancer in 2019 aged 33.

Coleen then confided in Dean and Oti saying: ‘Even when Rosie died, I kept it together for me mum and dad.’

Revealing the anniversary of Rosie’s death would be coming up in January she said:  ‘She was 14 when she died, she’d be 26 now. It’s hard to lose a child, I’ve always said that… so we’re lucky to have what we’ve got.’

Meanwhile Barry told the camp: ‘[Danika] had leukaemia, when I was making the boxing with Daniel Day Lewis, three weeks from the end I had to leave because she’d been diagnosed with leukaemia, they thought she wasn’t going to get better but she fought back and she won it. She had two years of chemo.’ 

As he began to guy campmates gathered around with Danny Jones and Tulisa offering a hug, as Barry gushed:  ‘Thank you, you’re all so lovely, I really appreciate it.’

Later going to tell Loose Women‘s Jane Moore about Danika’s second and final bout with cancer: ‘She had pains in her tummy but she was making the movie, she put it off and went to the doctor, called us all in. Stage 4 bowel cancer, 5 weeks, 5 weeks she died.’ 

Marking the date last year Coleen shared a tribute to Instagram and said: ’11 years without you. We love and miss you always Rosie Mc.’ 

The McLoughlins took Rosie in as a foster child when she was two and while they previously just provided respite care, Coleen noted that ‘Rosie was different’ in her Wagatha Christie Disney+ documentary.

She explained: ‘When Rosie came along she was a massive part of our lives. She was the sister that I never thought I was going to have.’

Speaking to her mother and her father Tony, she continued: ‘I used to do her hair and used to love picking clothes with me mum for her. She brought that little bit extra to the house. We fell in love with her.’

Yet the family soon realised that Rosie was struggling with her development, and after a series of hospital tests she was diagnosed with Rett syndrome.

Coleen explained: ‘Rosie, she struggled. She couldn’t walk and talk and would be in pain and sick but she still put a smile on her face.

‘Sometimes she used to force a laugh out. I think it was just to make my mum and dad happy.

‘Gradually her brain wasn’t functioning so she couldn’t eat anymore, couldn’t talk, move.’

Rosie needed 24-hour care and after suffering from ‘lots of complications’ and being admitted to intensive care, Colette revealed the family decided to bring her home to spend her final days surrounded by her loved ones.

‘We had a sleepover, one last sleepover, all of us together,’ she explained. ‘And then we had a big party to celebrate her life.’

Breaking down in tears, Coleen said: ‘To lose a child is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone but when you look back now she gave us so many good years of happiness and love.’

Barry’s daughter Danika McGuigan, who worked as an actress, passed away surrounded by her ‘devastated’ family.

She had starred in films including Philomena, Mammal and Wildlife and was known as Nika McGuigan in her professional work.

As a child she overcame leukaemia following a two-year battle, but tragically could not beat cancer for a second time as an adult.

Danika was Barry’s only daughter, alongside her three brothers Shane, Jake and Blane. Shane McGuigan has followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming one of boxing’s most successful trainers.

Her mother, Sandra, has been married to her father Barry for more than thirty years.

Also on Monday’s episode of I’m A Celeb, Coleen spoke about her Wagatha Christie trial for the first time with her campmates.

Despite rival WAG Rebekah Vardy ‘vowing to call in the lawyers’ if Coleen mentions the Wagatha Christie case in the jungle, she was more than happy to chat about the ‘nightmare’ trial.

Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were quick to poke fun at her recent legal battle with Rebekah, joking early in the launch show on Sunday that there would be ‘plenty more’ to come. 

Coleen insisted the trial ‘wasn’t a joke to her’ as she confided in her campmates GK Barry, Jane Moore and Dean McCullough.

Wagatha Christie is the popular name given to Coleen and Rebekah’s £1.8 million court case, which culminated in a 2022.

It began when Coleen put a widely-shared post on Instagram which accused Rebekah of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life to the press.

Rebekah denied the allegations and sued Coleen for libel, but the case – dubbed the ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial – found in Coleen’s favour, and left Rebekah liable to pay £1.5 million towards Coleen’s legal fees.

As the four sat around the creek getting to know one another, Dean took the opportunity once again to bring up the infamous case.

He said: ‘Can you imagine if Princess Diana would have done a Wagatha Christie!’

Jane told Coleen: ‘That was epic though what you did!’

Asked by GK if she was scared of posting it [the post which accused Rebekah of leaking stories], Coleen insisted she wasn’t.

She said: ‘No because I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining.

‘That was my worst nightmare to go to court. I felt like it was like putting on a show for the whole world.’

Coleen added: ‘What got me, over the whole thing, was it became a bit of a joke and that’s really disappointing, it wasn’t a joke for me.

Ant and Dec showed no sign of stopping the Wagatha Christie gags as they baited Rebekah Vardy relentlessly on Monday night.

The Geordie duo poked fun at Coleen’s ‘It’s… Rebekah Vardy’ post as they opened the show.

Dec said: ‘Coleen talks about the trial of the century and recovering her legal costs from Rebekah Vardy.’

Ant added: ‘Mmm and in case you are wondering, that money went straight into… Coleen Rooney’s account.’

Taking to X, fans wrote: ‘if i had a pound for each time ant & dec will mention rebekah vardy i’ll have made as much money as colleen rooney’s wage for being on this show #imaceleb’,

I’m A Celebrity…Unpacked airs live on ITV2 every night directly after the ITV1 show. You can also stream it anytime on ITVX or catch the ITV1 daytime repeat which airs the following day.