Name: Rebekah Vardy.
Age: 41.
Remind me who she is. I’ve done my best to forget. She was the loser in the Wagatha Christie libel case in 2022, which revolved around leaked posts from Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram. According to Rooney, they reached the Sun via Vardy’s account.
And they are both married to footballers? Almost correct. Rooney is married to Wayne Rooney, who retired in 2021 and is now the manager of DC United. Vardy is married to Jamie Vardy, the captain of Leicester City.
Who sued whom for what again? Rooney successfully busted Vardy by planting false stories on Instagram that were visible only to Vardy’s account.
What did the press make of the outcome? Helen Lewis, a writer for the Atlantic magazine, called the case “the most ill-advised defamation since Oscar Wilde’s dispute with the Marquess of Queensberry”.
So, what has Vardy been up to? I can hardly bear to hear it. She is starting her own company.
Don’t these people ever … Hang on, is that it? Yes. Vardy has registered Wagatha Christie International Ltd, of which she is the sole director and shareholder, to help recoup the £1.5m in court costs that she was ordered to pay Rooney last year. Why, what were you expecting?
Maybe Vardy has challenged Rooney to a cage fight, like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg never did. Give it time …
Back to this company – what will Vardy be selling? No specific products have been confirmed, but the trademark gives her control over the phrase “Wagatha Christie” being used on clothing, beauty products, jewellery, mugs, soft drinks …
What has Rooney got in the pipeline to rival Vardy’s new enterprise? Well, Disney+ is working on a three-part documentary, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, in which Rooney explains how she became an amateur sleuth to expose her former friend’s account as the source of the leak.
Haven’t we seen this played out already? Yes. Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama was shown on Channel 4 in December 2022. Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial was staged in the West End between November 2022 and January 2023, before a summer tour of the UK and Ireland. And a two-part television documentary, Vardy vs Rooney: The Wagatha Trial, was shown on Discovery+ in November 2022.
The new one is on Disney+, you say? Yes. But I think I’ll wait for the next Star Wars thing. Surely R2-D2 is due his own box set?
Do say: “Wagatha Christie? Of course I get it.”
Don’t say: “Which one is Rebekah Vardy again?”
