Rebekah Vardy ‘doesn’t see the funny side of’ Coleen Rooney rift

Mother-of-four ‘taking legal action’ after Twitter row

Rebekah Vardy "doesn't see the funny side" after she was accused by Coleen Rooney of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to a tabloid newspaper, her friend has said.

The mother-of-four, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, has reportedly hired digital forensic experts to trace the source of the leak and is “taking legal action”, according to Nicola McLean.

Rooney, the wife of former England football captain Wayne, said she had spent five months posting stories that were only visible to Vardy’s account in an attempt to prove she was the leaker.

Then she took to Twitter to reveal her prime suspect.

“For a few years now someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sun newspaper of my private posts and stories," she wrote.

The 33-year-old said she blocked everyone apart from Vardy from seeing her Instagram stories.

“It’s been tough keeping it to myself and not making any comment at all, especially when the stories have been leaked; however, I had to. Now I know for certain which account/individual it’s come from,” she added.

“It’s ... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

Vardy has denied selling the stories and McLean, a reality TV star and glamour model, said her friend was "devastated" about Rooney's revelation.

"She doesn’t see the funny side of this, but we’re all sitting laughing about it,” she told a panel on the Jeremy Vine on 5 show. “I’m trying not to be too serious here but I’ve seen the impact it’s actually had.”

She added: “Rebecca has categorically denied this. She’s taken legal action and she’s said if it’s someone from her account, she will find out who it is and she will deal with it.

“What she’s shocked about....is how public Coleen has done it. Coleen has been very clever to say ‘it’s Rebekah Vardy’s....account.’

"So that’s not saying it’s Rebekah, it’s saying someone else with access. And if she thought that, shouldn’t she have called Rebekah?”

Vardy had earlier replied directly to Rooney's tweet.

“I’m not being funny but I don’t need the money, what would I gain from selling stories on you?" she wrote.

The exchange instantly spread online and was greeted with amusement, mockery and outrage.

Rooney’s spokesperson said in a statement: “It is irrefutable that the leaks came from one account, and one account only.”

McLean said Vardy had been forced to cut her holiday short and had also pulled her daughter out of school.

The Sun has reported on Rooney and Vardy’s exchange and its article states: “Each of the stories provided to The Sun was put to Coleen’s representatives before publication, and on each occasion they declined to comment.”

Additional reporting by agencies