Klay Rooney declares dad Wayne more famous than mum Coleen in new family documentary

Wayne Rooney’s son Klay has settled the family’s fame debate with characteristic teenage bluntness, declaring his father the bigger star in the trailer for upcoming Disney+ documentary series The Real Rooneys, due to release on Thursday, 24 September.

Asked directly who is more famous between his parents, the 13-year-old did not hesitate. “My dad. My mum is only known because of my dad,” Klay told the camera — a verdict that, as the trailer implies, may earn him a spot alongside Wayne in what the former Manchester United striker calls the “doghouse.”

The series follows the Rooney family as they navigate life as, in the show’s own framing, “one of Britain’s most famous families.” The trailer offers an early glimpse of the domestic dynamics at play: Wayne is seen receiving a sharp rebuke from wife Coleen after staying out late with friends during a family holiday. “It’s meant to be a family holiday. You can’t keep doing what you do,” she tells him. Wayne’s response — “The doghouse manual… I’m on my third book” — sets the tone for what promises to be an candid look at the household.

The documentary features all four of the couple’s sons: Kai, who is part of Manchester United’s youth setup, Klay, Kit, and Cass. Wayne and Coleen first met in 1998 as children, became teenage sweethearts as he broke into Everton’s first team, got engaged in 2003, and married in 2008.

While Wayne built his reputation across a Premier League career that yielded five league titles, the Champions League, and the Europa League — largely at Manchester United — Coleen has carved out a distinct public profile of her own. In 2024 she finished second in the 24th series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and is also a published author. Her most high-profile moment in recent years, however, came through the lengthy legal dispute with Rebekah Vardy — the so-called Wagatha Christie case — which itself became the subject of a separate Disney+ drama documentary, Vardy v Rooney.

Klay’s assessment, then, may be more contested within the family than he realises.