The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Rooney told teammate Vardy his wife’ s media work ‘causing problems’
Former England football captain Wayne Rooney spoke to Jamie Vardy about Rebekah Vardy’s “media activities” during the Euro 2016 tournament because they were “causing problems and distractions”.
The former Manchester United star, who captained his national team during Euro 2016, said in a witness statement prepared as part of Mrs Vardy’s libel claim against his wife Coleen Rooney that he was asked by a member of Football Association (FA) staff to speak to Mr Vardy.
He said: “I remember getting pulled to one side by a member of the FA staff.
“I was asked to speak to my teammate Jamie Vardy about the fact that Becky’s media activities were causing problems and distractions which the FA wanted to avoid.
“I think Becky had some kind of column in The Sun about Euro 2016.
“I obviously had bigger things to focus upon but I agreed to speak to Jamie because it was easier than pushing back against the FA.
“I relayed to Jamie what I had been told by the FA and Jamie said he would speak to Becky about it.
“I was then asked during a press conference about the fact that I had spoken to Jamie about Becky’s media activities.
“I did not see the article but apparently there had been a story in The Sun about my conversation with Jamie about Becky.
“The issue didn’t go any further than that.”
Mr Rooney said he had no idea about his wife’s sting to find the person behind leaks from her private Instagram account until after she published the post in which she claimed it was Mrs Vardy’s account in October 2019.
However, he said Mrs Rooney did tell him she suspected Mrs Vardy in the months before the reveal post.
He said: “During 2017, I recall Coleen being really frustrated that posts/ stories that she had uploaded to her private Instagram account were being leaked to The Sun.
“While it was obviously upsetting Coleen, I didn’t want to get involved.
“I don’t read the press, particularly The Sun, and I have never been particularly active on social media – or at least I wasn’t active at the time.
“Coleen keeps a lot to herself and I just didn’t pay much attention to the matter at all.
“In around January 2019, while we were living in the US, I recall Coleen again being distressed about the fact that private information that she had uploaded to her private Instagram account was being leaked to The Sun.
“I remember she uploaded something on Twitter to make it clear that she was aware of what was happening and that she was unhappy about it.
“I think it was around this time that Coleen had mentioned to me that she thought it could be Becky.”
He added: “Coleen didn’t even mention to me she was going to upload her post prior to it being published on October 9 2019. I was in the US at the time the post was uploaded, the time zone is around four or five hours behind the UK.”
However, in a statement issued by Jamie Vardy’s representatives outside the hearing, the Leicester City player said: “Wayne is talking nonsense.
“He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky’s media work at Euro 2016.
“There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky.”
The case is expected to return for barristers’ closing arguments tomorrow.