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‘I can’t let her get away with this’: How Rebekah Vardy reacted to Coleen Rooney’s ‘Wagatha’ reveal post

Ms Rooney ‘had weaponised her fan base against me’, Ms Vardy told the High Court

Holly Bancroft
Friday 20 May 2022 20:32 BST
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Rebekah Vardy is seeking significant damages for defamation from Ms Rooney
Rebekah Vardy is seeking significant damages for defamation from Ms Rooney (EPA)

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Rebekah Vardy messaged her agent the day of Coleen Rooney’s ‘Wagatha Christie’ reveal post to say “I can’t just sit back and let her get away with this.”

Ms Vardy, 40, is suing Ms Rooney, 36, for defamation over the post, which accused her of leaking stories about Ms Rooney’s personal life to The Sun. The seven day trial ended at the High Court on Thursday and Ms Justice Steyn is now considering her judgement.

In messages to her agent, submitted as evidence to the court, Ms Vardy said: “I can’t just sit back and let her get away with this. I’m getting so much abuse, people who I thought were my friends are turning on me. Megs is getting sh** at school this is not just a ignore and move on for me x”.

Ms Vardy had previously sent screenshots of the abuse she was receiving to her agent Caroline Watt with the message: “Jesus Christ I hope she’s f****** happy now x”.

(PA)

Speaking about why she posted the infamous message in court, Ms Rooney said: “I wasn’t trying to achieve anything. What I wanted was to stop the person who was leaking my private information to The Sun.”

Referring to The Sun’s stories, she said: “It didn’t stop and this was my last resort.”

Ms Rooney said: “I was surprised myself by how much interest [the post] caused.”

Ms Rooney said it was never her intention for Ms Vardy to be trolled on social media.

“That was not my intention at all, not at all. It is not in my nature to cause abuse or trauma in any way at all,” she said.

The court had previously heard how Rebekah Vardy had initially found out about Ms Rooney’s reveal post from her agent, who sent her the Twitter post in a Whatsapp message.

Ms Vardy reacted, telling her agent: “Wow that’s war.” The 40-year-old spoke about the days following Ms Rooney’s big reveal in court. “It seemed she had weaponised her fan base against me, and I was desperately trying to do something to diffuse the situation,” she said during cross-examination.

Mrs Vardy told the court that during a subsequent phone call with Ms Rooney, the latter “quite frankly revelled in my anguish and upset”.

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