Wayne Rooney Coleen Rooney May 2015Getty

Wayne Rooney: Will he get a divorce, how much would Coleen get and who is Laura Simpson?

Wayne Rooney was plunged into controversy last week when he was charged by police for drink-driving and the entire episode could spell the end of his marriage.

Not only was the former Manchester United captain arrested and charged with the offence, but the car he was caught in did not even belong to him. The black Volkswagen Beetle he is accused by police to have been driving whilst over the prescribed limit was actually that of Laura Simpson, a woman he met while on a night out.

Rooney and Simpson reportedly took a taxi from a bar to collect her car before he was stopped and breathalysed by police officers. He was later released on bail, with a court date set for September 18, 2017.

The events of that night and the subsequent fall-out have been widely discussed on social media as well as in the tabloid press, but what does it mean for the future of Rooney and his wife Coleen?


WILL WAYNE ROONEY GET DIVORCED?


Wayne Rooney Coleen Rooney May 2014Getty

While reports in the British media suggest that Rooney fears that his marriage to Coleen is over as a result of his actions, it is not yet known whether the couple will divorce.

The pair have known each other since secondary school and got married in 2008 after dating for six years, but the Everton striker's latest indiscretion has fuelled speculation that they are about to break up for good.

Coleen, who is pregnant with the couple's fourth child, was on holiday with their children when the news of her husband's late-night encounter with the law - and another woman - emerged.

It is not the first time that she has been forced to endure such controversial behaviour either and she is said to have lost patience with the man to whom she has been married for nine years.

However, it remains to be seen whether the death knell has been rung on their marriage.


HOW MUCH WILL DIVORCE COST ROONEY?


Wayne Rooney EnglandGetty Images

Should Coleen wish to divorce from Rooney, it would probably be very costly for the former England captain, who could potentially be made to part with half his earnings. The involvement of children in the relationship also makes such a scenario more complicated and possibly more expensive.

The 31-year-old forward took a pay cut when he joined Everton from Manchester United, but he is still reportedly earning around £200,000-a-week at Goodison Park. Considering those wages as well as income that Rooney accrues from things such as property investment, commercial deals and other business interests, the total amount due to Coleen could be in the tens of millions.

Indeed, in early 2017, Rooney's net worth was estimated at around the £100 million mark, so if his wife is entitled to half of that, she could receive in the region of £50m from a divorce settlement.


WHO IS LAURA SIMPSON?


Laura SimpsonInstagram

Laura Simpson is the woman whose car Rooney was driving when he was arrested and charged with drink-driving on the morning of September 1.

According to widespread reports, Simpson is a 29-year-old single mother, who works in the property market as a sales manager. She met Rooney while on a night out in Alderly Edge, Cheshire and then left a nightclub with the footballer in a taxi to pick up her vehicle.

She told the Mail Online that she and the former Manchester United striker had "nothing more" than "a kiss and a cuddle" during their late-night dalliance. "I was caught up in the moment. I wasn't thinking about his wife at the time and nor was he," Simpson is quoted as saying.


OTHER CONTROVERSIES


Unfortunately, Rooney's name has dominated newspaper headlines for the wrong reasons in the past and the Everton man's latest controversy joins a list of highly publicised incidents.

In 2004, before he and Coleen got married, the then-18-year-old striker admitted that he visited massage parlours and prostitutes - one of which was reportedly known as 'The Auld Slapper' - but expressed regret at the behaviour.

In a statement in response to the public outcry, Rooney described his visits to prostitutes as "foolish" and said that the encounters occurred "at a time when [he] was very young and immature".

In 2010, two years after Rooney's marriage to Coleen, allegations of infidelity emerged, with Helen Wood claiming that she and another woman - Jennifer Thompson - had been involved in a threesome with the England star.

Rooney's social life also came under scrutiny last year when he photos emerged in the Sun depicting the then-England captain in an inebriated state while wearing official national team apparel. The striker apologised for the "inappropriate" pictures, but later hit out at what he perceived to be "disgraceful" treatment from the media.

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