From night she had violent breakdown to selling off designer gear to survive, WAG Leanne Brown opens up on ‘dark years’

SHE was a millionaire Wag who flew to Paris just to buy designer shoes, treated Harvey Nichols like her second home and drove a Bentley convertible. But now Leanne Brown admits: “I’ve had to sell everything to make ends meet.” Leanne Brown says it was her real friends who helped her through her crisis Credit: Matthew Pover Leanne and Wes holidaying with the Rooneys on Greek isle of Mykonos The former Real Housewives Of Cheshire regular and her former husband, England and ­Manchester United footballer Wes Brown, were once flying high financially. A string of bad investments — including a £500,000 loan to fellow Wag Dawn Ward and her husband Ashley that was allegedly never repaid — left Wes bankrupt and forced Leanne to quit the reality TV show. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! The Cheshire mansions are gone, while Leanne also had to pawn her jewellery and flog her designer clothes just to earn some money. Today Leanne, who is living in a rented house, says the past few years have been the darkest of her life and she hit rock bottom. But she adds that it is thanks to her real friends — including another Wag, Coleen Rooney — that she is finally on the up again with a new career that is not only bringing in cash but allowing her to help other women. Softly spoken Leanne, 50, tells The Sun on Sunday: “I lived such a privileged life. I flew business class to the Maldives and Las Vegas. “I remember Mum being in Tesco looking at the prices of things and I’d say, ‘Oh Mum, it’s like a couple of pence, just buy it’. Now that’s me in that supermarket aisle. “I am rich in life now, not money, but my family and friends feel priceless. It’s made me truly realise who my friends are too — who I can and can’t trust.” Most read in Sport Today Leanne tells how she had a “bit of a breakdown” last March when she was heading home to Cheshire in a taxi. Leanne and Wes at a ball in London in 2014 Credit: Getty – Contributor The couple’s five-bedroom former home in Prestbury, Cheshire Credit: Ray Bradbury She had been to a party to celebrate The Apprentice contestant Jess Cunningham’s birthday at The Ivy in Manchester, and says: “It had been tough for a long time. “During Housewives the bills were secretly piling through the door. It was terrifying — but nobody knew. “Wes bottled everything up as the pressure mounted. Then we split. “My eldest two daughters had flown the nest. I remember being in the taxi, feeling as though a curtain just came down on me, and I was going to explode. “So I started ringing everyone for help but nobody was answering. “I walked in my house and was screaming and screaming, smashing plates in the kitchen, crying, lying on the floor. Everything coming to a head — the marriage, the money, my job, the betrayal. I was just sick of the struggle. “I didn’t think I could carry on. Luckily one of my friends came. I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t. “My hormones played a part but it was an accumulation of everything over the past few years. I just hit a brick wall.” As the money ­problems mounted, Leanne did what she could to survive. Leanne soaks up the sun on holiday Credit: Social Media – Refer to Source Leanne’s former husband Wes playing for England in 2001 Credit: PA:Empics Sport She says: “I felt grateful I had those Chanel bags, clothes and shoes to sell. I pawned my rings, necklaces, earrings. “I wanted to keep my engagement ring for my kids. It was lovely. “I didn’t get what it was worth. But I had to do it.” Leanne and Wes are now divorcing but there was once plenty of happiness in their marriage. She was a 21-year-old lap dancer when they first met in a Manchester club. It was love at first sight. Four years later Wes was picked for England’s 2002 World Cup squad. The couple went on to have daughters Halle, 23, who appeared in Love Island, Lilia, 19, who is training in beauty, and Lola, 15, who is in her GCSE year at school. She and Wes tied the knot in 2009 at ­Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, and Leanne had three wedding dresses made for the ­occasion and flew to Paris to buy two pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes for the big day. Leanne, third left, with Real Housewives Of Cheshire co-stars Tanya Bardsley, Dawn Ward, Ampika Pickston, Magali Gorre and Lauren Simon at the ITV Gala at the London Palladium in 2015 Credit: Getty – Contributor Leanne with The Sun’s Jane Atkinson Credit: Matthew Pover Leanne loved being part of the Wag culture for both club and country. She recalls: “The Man United parties were so much fun. “They’d all get up and sing Sweet Caroline, standing on chairs, with their ties around their heads. Ryan Giggs would kick it off with a little dance shuffle that he did, put his collars up and do a Shakin’ ­Stevens-type dance. “Everyone would clear the dancefloor, cheering him on. “David and Victoria invited us to their pre-World Cup party at ­Beckingham Palace. Then the ­manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, invited all the families to Dubai too. Victoria was pregnant with Romeo and I was pregnant with Halle. After she had him I went to her house and I remember her coming down the stairs wearing jeans with a Guns N’ Roses T-shirt and she didn’t look as though she’d ever been pregnant. “I remember thinking how cool she looked. Meanwhile I was huge, massive — the size of a house — because I hadn’t had Halle then. “I loved the name Halle but Wes was like, ‘I’m not sure’, because Halle Berry had just won an Oscar and he wasn’t keen. “But that day Victoria asked me what names I’d thought of. I told her and she said, ‘Oh, I really like Halle, we were going to call Romeo that if he’d been a girl’. “Afterwards I told Wes and he was like, ‘Oh, Halle might not be such a bad name’. And I was like, ‘You d**khead’.” As we chat in a Manchester hotel, she tells how she has spoken to Coleen the day before, and she was nervous about the family’s new documentary series, The Real Rooneys. Leanne says: “I told her not to be. It’s lovely to see her stepping into the limelight, she’s doing so well. “She’s really been there for me over the years. “In the past year we have ­celebrated my 50th, which was a quiet affair, a private dinner. “Her 40th was amazing — she had a marquee in her garden. She looked gorgeous, she’s always good fun at parties. It was a great night and reminded me of how we used to party back in the day.” Leanne was also there for Coleen when the Wagatha Christie drama unfolded. In 2019 Coleen publicly accused Becky Vardy’s Instagram account of leaking private stories to the Press. Leanne says: “Becky even slagged me off in one message, asking why Coleen could possibly blame her when she knows people like Dawn Ward and Leanne Brown. “I messaged Coleen. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s this?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, just ignore it’. “Becky got found out in the end though, didn’t she?” But there is one former Wag who she will never speak to again — Dawn, following the disagreement over the huge loan. She says: “One day she will get what she deserves. I believe in karma and forgiveness — but I won’t forget.” While Wes, 46, is now in a new relationship and is a Manchester United club ambassador, Leanne is looking for love too — but not, as many people think, with a woman. As one of the original Real Housewives cast members, she says someone joked on the show that she was a lesbian. But she says: “I’ve dabbled on dating apps and been on dates, had a couple of short relationships but I am single now. I love women but I am 100 per cent straight but even when I put a photo of me and a female friend on social media some people think we are in a relationship.” After dealing with the traumas in her life, Leanne decided she wanted to help others. Over recent years she has trained in yoga and reiki and is now a qualified coach and wellbeing expert and runs her own company withloveleanne.co.uk. Leanne, who is already a children’s author, has written a course, Grief To Growth, to help other women transition through difficult life changes and in a few weeks she will release her new book Divine Power — A Woman’s Guide To Reclaiming Herself. She says: “I share all the things I’ve used to get me to where I am today. “Navigating those hormones, taking supplements, going on retreats. It’s worked for me.” “There were times when I never thought I could be happy again but I am, and my focus now is to show others how they can be too.” Comment now