Vardy denies selling ‘juicy’ stories to settle scores with her rivals
She weeps as she tells Coleen libel trial that trolls threatened her family
REBEKAH Vardy was accused of betraying her friends and her husband’s teammates yesterday as she was grilled over WhatsApp messages in the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial.
In five hours of gruelling crossexamination, which at one point left her in tears, Mrs Vardy denied she encouraged her agent to ‘stalk’ Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram and leak stories about her and other Wags.
Mrs Vardy, 40, was confronted with messages in which she discussed leaking and selling stories, and faced repeated accusations that she was lying to the court to protect the ‘last shred’ of her case against Mrs Rooney.
She rejected accusations she had revealed ‘juicy information’ to settle scores with rival Wags, while courting positive publicity by arranging staged photographs and interviews to promote her image.
Mrs Vardy, a mother-of-five, broke down in tears as she was confronted with one such interview, in which she told how vile online trolls had threatened to rape her daughter.
The £3million libel trial heard extraordinary details of life inside the Wags’ bubble, including lurid claims of extramarital affairs, bitter rivalries and back-stabbing.
The case centres around a 2019 social media post by Mrs Rooney in which she said she had planted fake stories on her private Instagram account and accused Mrs Vardy of leaking them to The Sun newspaper. Mrs Vardy denied the claim, and launched a libel case when Mrs Rooney refused to take down the post.
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City star Jamie, admitted she had been willing to leak a story about his teammate Danny Drinkwater’s arrest for drink-driving. The court heard a series of WhatsApp exchanges between her and her agent Caroline Watt, in which Mrs Vardy said: ‘Story... Danny Drinkwater arrested... crashed his car drunk with [two] girls in it... I want paying for this.’
Mrs Watt said she had contacted The Sun but the newspaper already knew about the arrest, and Mrs Vardy replied: ‘Holy f***... I am fuming that I didn’t give this to you earlier.’ Mrs Watt said: ‘Me too, that would have been a fortune.’
Asked yesterday if she had wanted payment for leaking the information to The Sun, Mrs Vardy said it was a ‘fleeting thought’ and denied it was part of a regular pattern in which she instructed Mrs Watt to leak stories for payment.
She insisted the Mr Drinkwater episode was a one-off because she found drink-driving abhorrent. The player later admitted drink-driving and received a driving ban.
Lawyer David Sherborne, for Mrs Rooney, said: ‘Despite him being one of your circle, you were prepared to pass on private information about him?’ Mrs Vardy replied: ‘Yes, on that occasion, because of his behaviour.’
Mrs Rooney, who wore a £32.99 patterned Zara dress and Chanel shoes, watched intently as Mrs Vardy gave her evidence, and scribbled notes in a pad. Mrs Vardy opted for a £1,847 Prada black dress, a £1,245 McQueen jacket and a £1,650 Givenchy handbag.
She was asked about her messages with Mrs Watt about an Instagram story involving damage to Mrs Rooney’s car. Mrs Watt messaged her on WhatsApp, asking if Mrs Rooney had crashed her Honda. Mrs Vardy replied: ‘She defo has... Go in the Instagram.’
She denied she was effectively telling her agent to access Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram, which she was able to view using Mrs Vardy’s account. Mrs Watt messaged again, saying: ‘I would have tried to have done a story on Coleen but the evidence has been deleted.’
Mr Sherborne said Mrs Vardy and her agent maintained a ‘constant commentary’ about posts by Mrs Rooney, and claimed they were monitoring her Instagram for nuggets of information to leak.
Mrs Vardy denied doing so, saying she and Mrs Watt were just old friends who enjoyed gossiping.
The Sun later ran an article about Mrs Rooney’s car, and she blocked Mrs Vardy on her Instagram, suspicious someone was leaking information about her.
WhatsApp messages showed Mrs Vardy questioning why Mrs Rooney had blocked her, saying: ‘She thinks it’s me that’s been doing stories on her!... That **** needs to get over herself.’
Mrs Vardy denied she had leaked information about Mrs Rooney, or instructed Mrs Watt to do so.
But she was asked about a series of WhatsApp exchanges with Mrs Watt in which they did appear to discuss leaking information.
‘She needs to get over herself’
‘JUST DON’T WANT IT COMING BACK ON ME’
Mr Sherborne said she had wanted to ‘do the dirty’ on her husband’s Leicester City teammate Riyad Mahrez when he was refusing to train with the club. She
contacted Mrs Watt, and the agent suggested she should tell a Sky Sports journalist.
Mrs Vardy replied: ‘Just don’t want it coming back on me.’ Mrs Watt then offered to contact the journalist. Mrs Vardy denied that she or Mrs Watt were behind any stories about Mr Mahrez.
‘LEAK THE STORY’
Mrs Vardy encouraged her agent to leak a story about a celebrity, referred to as ‘Mrs F’, having an affair with a footballer, referred to as ‘G’, Mr Sherborne suggested.
She messaged Mrs Watt in 2018 saying: ‘OMG, have you seen how badly Mrs F is behaving. I am absolutely disgusted by her. Leak the story about her s **** ing G behind [her husband’s] back.’ Mrs Vardy told the court her words did not amount to an instruction to leak the story, but that she had been ‘joking’.
‘LEAK THE MALDIVES STUFF’
Mrs Vardy denied she had wanted to leak information about Danielle Lloyd, the former wife of ex-Tottenham player Jamie O’Hara, because the pair had a ‘spat on Instagram’.
A WhatsApp message from Mrs Vardy read: ‘She’s gone and done it now leak the Maldives stuff x’.
Mrs Vardy said she was referring to an interview Ms Lloyd had given, in which she discussed going on honeymoon to the Maldives, and later suffering a miscarriage.
She insisted she was not ‘privy to any information’ about Ms Lloyd.
‘DON’T GIVE HIM THE MR X STUFF’
The court heard that Mrs Watt asked Mrs Vardy why she had been blocked on Instagram, and if she thought Mrs Rooney suspected she was the source of stories.
Mrs Vardy replied: ‘Just don’t know how she would ever know that unless [Sun journalist Andy] Halls has leaked it in which case please don’t give him the Mr X stuff.’ Mrs Watt said: ‘I messaged him [Halls] and he said absolutely not and he would never say what his source was.’
The court heard Mr X was a married footballer who had fathered a child with another woman.
Mrs Vardy denied that she had instructed Mrs Watt to withhold information ‘until you’re sure that Mr Halls hasn’t grassed you up’, saying: ‘That’s my way of communicating with her not to give journalists information.’
She denied she had habitually given information to her agent to pass on to The Sun.
The case continues.