Rebekah Vardy has broken her silence in her first TV interview since losing her libel battle against Coleen Rooney. The pair faced each other in court three years after Mrs Rooney said she had carried out a months-long “sting operation” and accused Mrs Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney publicly claimed Mrs Vardy’s account was the source behind three stories in The Sun newspaper featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram stories. Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, denied leaking stories to the media and sued her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Mrs Rooney defended the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.
Both women attended a week-long trial at the High Court in London in May then in a much-anticipated ruling on Friday (July 28) Mrs Justice Steyn found in Mrs Rooney’s favour and dismissed the claim against her. The judge said it was “likely” that Mrs Vardy’s agent at the time, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing the information to The Sun.
READ MORE: Jamal Edwards collapsed after taking cocaine and drinking booze, inquest hears
But she added: “Nonetheless, the evidence … clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney’s posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt.”
After the judgment, Mrs Vardy thanked her supporters and said she was “extremely sad and disappointed at the decision that the judge has reached”. She continued: “It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just. I brought this action to vindicate my reputation and am devastated by the judge’s finding.
“The judge accepted that publication of Coleen’s post was not in the ‘public interest’ and she also rejected her claim that I was the ‘Secret Wag’. But as for the rest of her judgment, she got it wrong and this is something I cannot accept.”
She has now sat down for a TV interview with TalkTV’s Kate McCann, which is set to air on TV this week. A clip for their sit-down chat opens with Mrs Vardy, 40, reluctant to answer a particular question put to her. "Oh come on… you can’t ask me that," she says. Mrs Vardy is then heard doubling down on her claim that she did not leak ‘false stories’ about Mrs Rooney, 36,
"I will say that till I’m blue in the face – I did not do it," she says before telling McCann how she feels 'let down' following the judge’s ruling. "I feel let down by a lot of people, a lot of things. But mostly I feel let down by the legal system," she says. She then breaks down in tears, her eyes welling up as she continues with the interview.
During the trial, the two women each gave evidence, as did Mr Rooney, also 36, who played for Everton and Manchester United as well as England. In her 76-page judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn said Mrs Vardy’s evidence was “manifestly inconsistent” with contemporaneous documentary evidence on “many occasions”.
The judge added: “I find that it is, unfortunately, necessary to treat Mrs Vardy’s evidence with very considerable caution.” Following the ruling Mrs Rooney said in a statement that she was “pleased” the ruling went in her favour but that she “never believed” the case should have gone to court “at such expense in times of hardship for so many people when the money could have been far better spent helping others”.
She added: "Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made every effort to avoid the need for such a drawn-out and public court case. All my attempts to do so were knocked back by Mrs Vardy."
Coleen and me… is due to air on Wednesday, August 3, at 7pm on TalkTV.
READ NEXT:
- ITV Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway flooded with messages as she shares snuggled bed snap
- Big Brother fans make same demand as Rylan Clark issues clarification on show's ITV return
- ITV Love Island fans 'want refund' as they issue complaints about final four
- ITV Love Island fans left confused by 'random' appearance during final
- ITV Love Island fans clock Luca Bish's reaction to coming runner-up with Gemma Owen
