Coleen Rooney has said she was “really shocked” by the scale of the reaction to her 2019 social media post accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking fake stories to the press, which sparked a high-profile libel battle. The wife of former footballer Wayne Rooney made the comments during an appearance on BBC One’s The One Show to promote her new Disney+ docuseries, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.
In October 2019, Rooney posted on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook claiming that Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, was the source behind three false stories in The Sun. The fake stories included details about a “gender selection” procedure in Mexico, a return to television, and a flooded basement at Rooney’s home. Rooney said she planted these stories to identify who was leaking information from her private Instagram account.
Vardy sued Rooney for libel but lost the High Court battle in July 2022, with the judge ruling Rooney’s claims were “substantially true”. Reflecting on the public response, Rooney said: “I knew there’d be attention but not the level it got. I was really shocked at how big it got.” She added that while the ordeal was tough, she stands by her original post: “They were my words and I stick by them today.”
Rooney described the emotional toll of the case, saying: “It was tough, there were times where I just wanted it to go away but that’s what I had to do, I had to just battle on.” She now feels a “massive cloud’s been lifted” and is grateful to be “present again” with her children. The three-part docuseries premieres on Disney+ on Wednesday, offering Rooney’s perspective on the events that became known as “Wagatha Christie”.
