Rochelle Humes and Phillip Schofield have both spoken out in defence of Peter Andre after he was forced to issue a statement over his 'manhood'. The Mysterious Girl singer has found himself dragged into the libel trial between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
The case, dubbed Wagatha Christie, began on Tuesday (May 10) and Vardy, the wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie, took to the stand to admit she regretted once describing Peter's 'manhood' as a “miniature chipolata” in a 2004 interview with the News of the World.
She insisted she "deeply regrets" the incident and said she was coerced into giving the interview to the tabloid against her will by her ex-husband, an allegation the ex-husband has previously denied. The singer has since taken to Instagram to defend his pride after the comments were brought to public attention once more.
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He wrote: "Do you know how hard it is to keep biting my lip on situations? But the way I look at it, most people saw in the jungle how an acorn turned into an oak so I think I’m OK." Peter added: "At least she has now admitted it wasn’t true. And was forced to say it."
Appearing on This Morning on Wednesday (May 11), Phillip and Rochelle spoke about the case during the latest 'This Morning's View' segment. They were joined by Matthew Wright and Gyles Brandreth to discuss the latest new headlines, dominated by Vardy and Rooney's dispute.
As Matthew described the revelations about Peter as a "horrible, horrible, episode" and saying he was "gutted" for him having to wake up to it splashed across the headlines again, the hosts agreed with Phillip saying: "I thought it was really unfair," and Rochelle added to Matthew: "We are with you."
Phil went on to describe the Wagatha Christie trial as "unseemly" after Gyles mentioned "life's too short" to have this trial as well as the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard case.
Concluding the discussion about the trial, Rochelle said: "We understand the principle of how it started and you can understand how hurtful that is, however, to make it this far, it just seems all a little bit [much]." She later added as they wrapped up the segment: "And can we just leave Peter Andre alone?"
During Tuesday's session in court Vardy revealed she did not ask Mr Andre for his permission or tell him the story was going to happen in advance. Mr Sherborne asked her: “Did you feel particularly strongly about the size of his manhood that it should be made public?”
Vardy, who has been married to footballer Jamie since 2016 and has three children with him, responded: “It was something that I was forced to say."
The trial is continuing today (Wednesday May 11) with Mrs Vardy having re-entered the witness box to continue facing questions from Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne. The mother-of-five arrived at the court dressed all in black, wearing sunglasses, a jacket, long skirt and high heels.
Mrs Rooney was again joined by her husband, former England and Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney, as she arrived at the High Court in London. She wore a white and black patterned outfit while her left foot was still in a brace.
