Coleen Rooney feared her marriage was over when husband Wayne was arrested for drink-driving with another woman in his car, she revealed as she began her evidence to the Wagatha Christie libel trial.
Their relationship hit the rocks when England’s leading goalscorer Wayne was arrested in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in the early hours of 1 September, 2017.
The footballer later received a two-year driving ban and was ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to the charge.
Starting her evidence in her libel battle with Rebekah Vardy, Rooney spoke for the first time about her marriage difficulties. The woman involved, estate agent Laura Simpson, later spoke to the media about the incident.
“My relationship with my husband, there had been a situation. It was wrongdoing by my husband”, Rooney told the trial on Friday.
“I was in a vulnerable position.”
She told the court they were trying to work out their difficulties privately at the time, but she had moved out of the family home.
“I didn’t know how my marriage was going to work out, whether I was going on with my relationship. We needed to try and work things out”, she said.
“I moved back into the house, I was spending a lot of time at my parents’ house.”
In November 2017, on her private Instagram account which has a select group of around 300 followers of close friends and family, Rooney posted an image of Wayne at home with their children in bed with matching pyjamas.
Rooney said she did not want the image to be made public, but it was allegedly leaked to The Sun by Rebekah Vardy, for a story about their marriage being back on track.
“Me and Wayne was trying to figure out our relationship, trying to see where things were going”, she said.
“I know how quickly the papers are…I didn’t want the public to know that. I hadn’t settled on ‘this is it, we are getting back together’.
“I kept it to my close circle, but the posts got given to The Sun and The Sun published it.”
Rooney also opened up in her evidence about her “terrible” year in the US when Wayne moved to play for DC United.
“I never believed in home sickness before, until I got there,” she said.
“I was crying every single night. I couldn’t even FaceTime my parents. It was horrific.”
Earlier in her evidence, Rooney denied that she had intended to heap abuse on Vardy with her “Wagatha Christie” bombshell post.
“What I wanted was to stop the person who was leaking my private information to The Sun”, she said. “I gave out a warning…it didn’t stop and this was my last resort.
“I was surprised myself how much interest it caused.”
Facing questions from Vardy’s barrister, Hugh Tomlinson QC, that she had been “happy” for Vardy to face abuse as a consequence, Rooney said: “I would never wish abuse upon anyone. I’ve had it myself, it’s not nice, and I would never let anyone get abused on my behalf.”
When Mr Tomlinson suggested “that’s what happened”, Rooney said: “It was not intended, at all.”
“It’s not in my nature to cause abuse or trolling in any way at all”, she added.
In a viral social media post in October 2019, Rooney, 36, said she had carried out a “sting operation” and accused Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.
Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer's wife for libel, while Rooney is defending the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.
Continuing her evidence on Friday afternoon, Rooney described how she created her ‘Wagatha Christie’ expose, writing the text out with pen and paper the night before she posted it on social media.
She said a story in The Sun about a flooded basement at their new home – after she had posted a fake story on her private Instagram feed which was only viewed by Vardy’s account – had left her “fuming”.
“I now felt absolutely confident that it was Becky’s Instagram Account that was responsible for leaking information from the Private Instagram Account to The Sun”, she said.
“I took the view that enough warning had already been given and decided to go public.”
Rooney, who had kept her sleuthing a secret from husband Wayne, said she was “fuming” at the leaks, and said Vardy’s close relationship with The Sun only bolstered her suspicions.
“By late-evening on 8 October 2019, I had decided that I was going to make an announcement the following morning.
“I drafted something on pen and paper in the evening ready to be posted the next day. “Wayne was in the US at the time so it was just me and the kids in the house. I didn’t speak to him about it.”
Rooney said she had never fallen out with another WAG, but felt compelled to act over the leaks.
In exchanges this afternoon, Vardy’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC left Wayne Rooney quietly fuming as he made a jibe about his recently-relegated Derby County club.
When Rooney said she “believed” Vardy was the leak, Mr Tomlinson replied: “What you believe isn’t evidence.
“You may believe Derby County will win the Premiership in 2 years’ time, but it’s not evidence they are going to.”
Wayne Rooney signed a court sketch of himself as he left the court this afternoon. His wife continues her evidence on Monday.
