The first day of the Wagatha Christie libel trial between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy, was dominated by the alleged size of Peter Andre ’s manhood, which resulted in the singer having to defend his private parts on social media.
Vardy took to the stand in the proceedings at London’s High Court to admit she regretted describing Peter Andre's penis as a “miniature chipolata” during a 2004 kiss-and-tell newspaper interview with the News of the World.
The 40-year-old said that she “deeply regrets” the interview and was coerced into speaking to the tabloid against her will by her ex-husband, an allegation the ex-husband has previously denied, reports the Mirror.
And Peter, who appeared on I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! in 2004, took to Instagram to address the situation, he said: “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.”
He then added: “At least she has now admitted it wasn’t true. And was forced to say it.”
Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne was cross-examining Vardy when he probed her about the newspaper interview in which she went into detail about a claimed sexual encounter with Andre. Mr Sherborne had asked her if she respected people’s privacy, to which she replied: “Yes, I do.”
Mr Sherborne showed her a print of the article in the witness box before reading the headline: “Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes”. He then read excerpts from the story, which included the line “he had the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen” and managed “just five minutes of sex with Rebekah”.
The News of the World was the highest circulating newspaper at the time, according to Mr Sherborne, with around four million readers. He asked Vardy whether it had been “respectful” of Andre’s “right not to share this information”.
She replied: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this and it is something that I deeply regret. It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used – to me, this is mudslinging, and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.”
Vardy later 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 Leicester City striker Jamie since 2016, responded: “It was something that I was forced to say.” The trial continues on Wednesday.
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