Coleen Rooney said that messages about her sent between Rebekah Vardy and her agent were “just evil” and “uncalled for”, during day five of Ms Vardy’s libel trial at the High Court.
Finishing her cross-examination on Monday morning, Ms Rooney said that she has “hated every minute” of the legal proceedings.
She branded her “Wagatha Christie” moniker “ridiculous” and said she didn’t tell anyone about her sting operation because she is used to dealing “with things in silence”.
The two footballers’ wives are battling one another in court over a widely circulated social media post in which Ms Rooney accused someone with access to Ms Vardy’s Instagram account of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.
The court heard that, after she posted the infamous “Wagatha Christie” message on Twitter, Ms Rooney posted a triumpant message to her private Instagram followers, which read: “Don’t play games with a girl who can play better.”
Defence witnesses were called to testify in the afternoon, including Ms Rooney’s brother Joe McLoughlin and FA liaison officer Harpreet Robertson.
Ms Robertson said that Rebekah Vardy and her guests sat in the wrong seats during England’s 2016 Euros match against Wales – adding that Ms Vardy’s testimony about the event was “simply untrue”.
Here are the key moments from day five:
Ms Vardy and agent’s WhatsApps ‘evil and uncalled for’, Ms Rooney said
Coleen Rooney said that messages about her sent between Ms Vardy and her agent, Caroline Watt, were “just evil and they were uncalled for”.
She added: “[Ms Vardy] says she has zero interest in what is going on in my life, which I believe is totally untrue.”
“She talks about me a lot without me even knowing her,” Ms Rooney said.
Referring to the messages sent between Ms Vardy and her agent that have been revealed during the trial, Ms Rooney said: “I just feel like the messages that went on between them were just evil and they were uncalled for.
“I’m not a bad person. I’m not the words used.”
Ms Vardy called Ms Rooney a “c***” in exchanges.
Ms Rooney called Ms Vardy ‘fame hungry’ in messages to PR
Coleen Rooney told her PR Rachel Monk that Rebekah Vardy was “fame hungry” and that she suspected her of being the source of the leaks to The Sun, the court heard.
Ms Rooney enlisted Ms Monk’s help in finding out if Ms Vardy had links to The Sun. Ms Rooney suspected Ms Vardy of leaking her private information but wanted to find out if she had the means to do so.
Ms Rooney messaged Ms Monk: “She’s so fake [sic] hungry from stuff she’s done at the world cup she was speaking to the press.”
Ms Rooney clarified in the witness box that “fake” was a typo and that she had meant “fame”.
‘Don’t play games with a girl who can play better’
Ms Rooney posted a triumphant message after her “Wagatha Christie” reveal to her private Instagram followers, saying: “Don’t play games with a girl who can play better.”
Speaking about why she posted this Instagram story, she told the court: “I felt like I had found out who it was... It was a quote that I found, and I put it up, and it was just something that I did.”
Referring to the “Wagatha Christie” post, Ms Rooney said: “I knew it would obviously get attention. I did not think it would go as big as it has gone. I never thought I would be here today.”
Ms Rooney wanted fake gender selection story to run in The Sun to get evidence
Ms Rooney told the court that she wanted The Sun to run a fake story from her private Instagram because she wanted evidence that one her followers was leaking.
When The Sun got in touch with Ms Rooney’s agent to tell her they were going to run an article about her “gender selection” Instagram story, Ms Rooney instructed her agent to tell them nothing and “just say you can’t get hold of me”.
“I wanted the story to run,” she told the court. “I felt like that would be an extra step. If the papers run it,” she clarified.
Ms Rooney opened up about ‘the Wayne situation’
Ms Rooney spoke again about the ups and downs in her marriage with Wayne and how difficult she found life in America.
Talking about media speculation about their marriage, she said: “We’ve dealt with it as a couple and as a family. There was a few things that had been publicised over them few years.”
Talking about a private Instagram post she put up with the caption “It’s been a difficult year” during her time in Washington, Ms Rooney said she was referring to: “Homesickness, the Wayne situation, there was quite a few things, yeah.”
Who is ‘The Secret Wag’?
Ms Vardy’s lawyer quizzed Ms Rooney about who she believes is “The Secret Wag” – an anonymous column in The Sun about the private lives of the wives and girlfriends of famous UK footballers.
“Your case is that Ms Vardy is Secret Wag, or a principal source, or a source for ‘The Secret Wag’,” Hugh Tomlinson said.
Mr Tomlinson told Ms Rooney that “‘The Secret Wag’ column was actually quite nice about you”, adding: “It says that you are the nicest Wag.”
“You think it was a distraction technique by saying that you are the nicest Wag,” Mr Tomlinson put to Ms Rooney.
Ms Rooney confirmed she believed that Ms Vardy would attack herself and praise Ms Rooney in “The Secret Wag” column to throw people off the scent.
FA officer is quizzed on her knowledge of seating plans in bizarre exchange
FA family liaison office Harpreet Robertson was put through her paces by Ms Vardy’s lawyer Mr Tomlinson in the High Court on Friday.
Ms Robertson had told the court in her witness statement that Rebekah Vardy and her guests had sat in the wrong seats at a Euro 2016 match. She said that Ms Vardy’s friends had been “abusive” to her when she had tried to move them into the correct places.
“I asked them to move but they refused and were incredibly rude and abusive to me, remarking words to the effect of “we can sit where we like, f*** off”, she said.
In one extraordinary exchange in court, Ms Vardy’s lawyer Mr Tomlinson started quizzing Ms Robertson on how well she could remember seating plans from the Euro 2016 England vs Wales game – asking: “Joe Hart? Harry Kane?”
She maintained that she could remember “Coleen’s seats and Ms Vardy’s seats because I had to look at my notes on several occasions”.
The trial continues.
