€1m war of the Wags
Soccer stars’ spouses take online row to UK High Court
SOCCER star’s wife Rebekah Vardy is suing fellow Wag Coleen Rooney in a €1million-plus defamation lawsuit after their online fallout.
Last October, Ms Rooney, 34 – wife of former Manchester United striker Wayne – accused Ms Vardy of being the source of leaks about her in the tabloids.
She posted a long message online, detailing her super-sleuth attempts to find the culprit, which included making up false stories about herself before posting them on her Instagram page.
Ms Rooney said she ensured the details were visible to only one account. After stories was published in the press, she made a public accusation, with a dramatic post concluding with the words: ‘It’s... Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
Ms Rooney was dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ for her detective skills and the saga quickly went viral. Ms Vardy, who is married to Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy, vehemently denied the accusations.
A court listing has now been lodged at the London High Court by Ms Vardy’s lawyers. No details of the case are publicly available and a date for the hearing has not been set.
The case will proceed to a trial unless a settlement is reached between the parties, with court costs alone expected to reach £500,000 (€550,000) on each side.
It is understood I’m A Celebrity star Ms Vardy has launched the legal action because she wishes to clear her name and wants a full public apology. It comes after private mediation failed to defuse the row. Ms Rooney named and shamed mother-of-five Mrs Vardy, 38, on social media after the fake stories were published in the press. One post claimed
Ms Rooney was going to Mexico to have ‘gender selection’ treatment to allow her to have a baby girl – after four sons – and another that she was set to take part in Strictly Come Dancing. She publicly accused Ms Vardy, who was then seven months pregnant, of leaking the stories to The Sun.
She wrote: ‘Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into The Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!’
On Twitter, Ms Vardy claimed ‘various people have had access’ to her Instagram account ‘over the years’, and added: ‘As I have just said to you on the phone, I wish you had called me if you thought this.’
Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney had been pictured together on multiple occasions, including watching their husbands play for England in 2016.
It was reported that animosity was brewing between the Wags after Ms Vardy appeared to be referring to Ms Rooney when she said women who took back their cheating husbands had no self-respect.
‘I wouldn’t stand for it if my husband cheated on me, I wouldn’t put up with that in a million years,’ she told Fabulous magazine in August last year, two months before Ms Rooney’s explosive post.
‘If I was prepared to put up with that behaviour, where would my self-respect be? What example would I be to my kids?’
Ms Vardy broke down during an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women in February and said the incident forced her to seek hospital treatment three times after suffering severe anxiety attacks that left her in fear of going out.
She said the fallout from the post had been the ‘worst time of her life’ other than when she was sexually abused as a child.
‘The trolling was the worst part for me and my family,’ Ms Vardy said. ‘This was a whole new level. I had people messaging me, saying nasty stuff... one in particular: “You fat, ugly rat, I really hope you and your baby rot”.’
‘I posted a series of false stories’ ‘The trolling was the worst part’