Agent pleaded with ‘runaway train’ Rebekah to halt libel bid against Coleen
REBEKAH VARDY’S agent begged her not to sue Coleen Rooney for libel, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Caroline Watt, the PR agent with a vital off-stage role in the High Court drama being played out between the two WAGs, tried to talk her out of legal action and urged her to move on with her life.
Friends of former air hostess Mrs Watt say she was initially supportive of Mrs Vardy after Mrs Rooney accused her of leaking stories, but became alarmed when the row escalated into legal action.
One said: ‘Caroline saw this all running away in front of them and wanted it to stop.
‘She tried to stop Becky but she was just not having any of it.
‘She was determined that she was going to get her apology from Coleen at any cost, so she just kept going and going. Becky was warned it was going to get expensive and there was a lot of damaging correspondence between Caroline and herself, but it was like Becky was on a runaway train and there was nothing Caroline could do about it.
‘It all got out of control. It was quite extraordinary for Caroline to see. She spent years advising Becky and being her friend, so she hoped that, on this one, she would listen to her. Alas, she didn’t.’ Mrs Vardy has accepted in court documents that Mrs Watt may have leaked stories to The Sun, but this was without her knowledge. She was accused in court of betraying Mrs Watt by ‘throwing her under the bus’.
WhatsApp messages emerged last week showing that Mrs Watt admitted giving the newspaper a story about Mrs Rooney crashing her 4x4 car in Washington DC.
Mrs Watt, 39, who no longer works for Mrs Vardy and is unable to give evidence due to illness, also had a conversation with her about selling details about ex-Leicester City footballer Danny Drinkwater being arrested for drink-driving in 2019.
Friends of Mrs Vardy say her determination to win the High Court battle, which began on Tuesday, was helped after her husband Jamie scored for Leicester City in its 3-0 win over Norwich City on Wednesday. ‘It gives her confidence, it fuels her,’ said one. ‘Jamie scored two goals and that gave Becky that bit of extra oomph she needed to get through her torrid days in court. All the time he is scoring and playing at such a high level she knows things are all good.’
The MoS can also reveal that England WAGs whom Mrs Vardy is accused of setting up for a photographer when they all ate at a restaurant at the 2018 World Cup in Russia are ‘absolutely devastated’.
One said she ‘could not believe’ the suggestion that a fellow WAG would even consider ‘doing the dirty’ on them in such a way.
‘Becky had a private jet to ferry her around the games so didn’t spend as much time with the group of women, but nevertheless they trusted her,’ said a source. ‘Many of them feel very sad.’
Fern Hawkins, who wed England and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire last week, is said to have been particularly upset.
Mrs Rooney, 36, and husband Wayne, 35, left to be with their four sons at home in Cheshire on Friday after she gave evidence. The pair have been staying near the High Court, but they are thought to have wanted family time before she returns to the witness box.
Mrs Vardy returned home to her five children. But insiders believe her husband, 35, would have found last week’s court revelations awkward, particularly those about exteam-mate Drinkwater. ‘It must be very difficult for him to know that whichever dressing room he is in, there could easily be suspicion pointed at him over this,’ said one.
The Vardys, reportedly worth £12million, were once football’s golden couple. A Hollywood filmmaker was reported to be planning to make a movie about their rise to fame, but the project appears to have been axed. Mr Vardy also set up the V9 academy to find nonleague football talent, which became the subject of a Sky TV series – but its Instagram page has not been updated for nearly a year.
‘Determined to get her apology at any cost’