Rebekah Vardy believes she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after losing a libel trial against Coleen Rooney.
The wife of Leicester City striker, Jamie, also revealed that she has been admitted to hospital for stress on two occasions since the so-called “Wagatha Christie” saga began.
Last Friday (29 July), a high court judge ruled against Vardy, finding that it was “likely” that her former agent, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing information to The Sun newspaper.
Vardy had brought legal action against Rooney, wife of ex-footballer Wayne, after she publicly accused Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her to the tabloid press.
In a new interview, Vardy said she has been experiencing nightmares about the trial.
“Since the court case, I think I’m probably suffering with PTSD,” she told The Sun.
“I feel physically sick when I talk about the trial and what happened, and I have nightmares.
“I haven’t gone to get a diagnosis yet, but I do know I probably need some more therapy. It’s been a horrible time.”
Vardy also opened up about how Rooney’s public accusation impacted her mental health.
“I was having serious panic attacks,” she said. “I had kidney stones which were brought on by stress, and I just felt like my life was falling apart. Physically, emotionally and mentally it was exhausting.”
“It was draining. I had to go to hospital a couple of times because they were really worried about my mental wellbeing,” she added.
In October 2019, Rooney published a now-viral tweet that implied that Vardy had been sharing posts from her private Instagram account with The Sun.
Rooney said she had grown suspicious that someone whom she “trusted” had been leaking information about her to the press.
In a bid to catch out who was sharing the information, she had restricted access to who could see posts to her private story.
“Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into The Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!” Rooney wrote.
She alleged: “Now I know for certain which account / individual it’s come from. I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s ..........Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Vardy told The Sun she received “insane abuse, death threats [and] rape threats” after Rooney’s tweet went viral.
In a statement following Friday’s judgement, Vardy said she was “extremely sad and disappointed” by the decision, and that she does not “accept” the ruling.
“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 judgement, she got it wrong, and this is something I cannot accept.”
