Rebekah Vardy gave evidence for the first time in her highly-publicised Wagatha Christie trial on Tuesday.
The WAG is suing the wife of Wayne Rooney for libel, after she publicly accused her of leaking “false stories” about her private life in 2019.
Following opening arguments from both legal teams on the first day of the trial, Rebekah entered the witness box where she was quizzed by Coleen’s lawyer David Sherborne.
As she gave evidence at London’s High Court, the 40-year-old insisted she “didn’t leak anything to anyone”.
After Rebekah agreed it was “wrong” and “upsetting” for someone to secretly leak a person’s private information, Mr Sherborne asked if she respects other people’s privacy, to which she replied: “Yes, I do.”
According to Sky News, Coleen’s lawyer then referred to an interview Rebekah did with the News Of The World in 2004, in which she spoke about an alleged sexual encounter with Peter Andre.
Excerpts of the article were read out in court, in which she said Peter had “the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen”, which she described as a “miniature chipolata”.
When asked if the interview was “respectful” of Peter Andre, Rebekah replied, “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this.”
“It is something that I deeply regret… It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.”
The ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial has been a long time coming, as Rebekah launched her libel suit against Coleen back in 2020 – after she accused her of leaking stories to the press.
In October 2019, the wife of Wayne Rooney claimed she planted false information on her private Instagram page and blocked everyone from her story – except Rebekah’s account.
The mother-of-four said stories about her basement flooding, returning to TV, and gender selection were only viewed by Rebekah’s account – and the false stories all made it into the press.
Coleen believed this was proof that the fellow WAG allegedly sold stories about her private life, but Rebekah has vehemently denied her claims – and is now suing her for libel.
In court today, Rebekah’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said his client “had no choice” but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to “establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation”.
In written submissions, he also said: “The allegation in the post was and remains false: Mrs Vardy had not leaked information about Mrs Rooney or her friends and family to the Sun newspaper from her private Instagram account.”
“Mrs Rooney did not have the ‘irrefutable’ evidence that she claimed to have had: her so-called ‘careful investigation’ was nothing of the sort.”
“If anyone had been leaking information from Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram this was not done with Mrs Vardy’s knowledge or approval.”
“Mrs Vardy made strenuous but unsuccessful attempts to settle the case but the post was not taken down. As result, Mrs Vardy had no choice but to bring this libel action to establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation.”
In his opening statement, Hugh Tomlinson QC said it was “unfair” that Coleen didn’t put her allegations to Rebekah before making the post on 9 October 2019.
Rebekah’s lawyer also suggested Coleen “revelled” in the Wagatha Christie image, and screenshotted several images from the internet poking fun at the scandal.
Describing the “horrific” abuse his client suffered after Coleen’s post, Mr Tomlinson told the court how Rebekah was called “an evil rat face b****” on social media.
The WAG, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was also told “her baby should be put in an incinerator”.
The trial before Mrs Justice Steyn is expected to last six days, and Rebekah’s evidence will continue on Wednesday.
