Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story has finally arrived on Disney+, and those who inhaled the Wagatha Christie trial like a thrilling crime novel will be happy to discover that the documentary is full of bombshell revelations.
The three-part series follows the events surrounding the internet-breaking tweet from Coleen – who is married to former footballer Wayne – in which she accused Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie, of leaking stories to The Sun newspaper using information taken from Coleen’s private Instagram account.
In October 2019, Rooney concluded who was leaking her information in a Twitter/X reveal that will go down in the history books, writing: “It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Rebekah denied that she had anything to do with the leaks, and brought Coleen to trial for libel. Coleen won the 2022 court case, but to this day Rebekah continues to deny her involvement.
In the opening moments of the new documentary, Coleen sets out her mission statement, telling the camera: “Throughout the trial, I kept silent because I was under oath. And still to this day I haven’t said anything.
“I feel like everyone else has had their say about the court case and how it all began. But for me to move on in life and especially in the public eye, I just feel it’s right I have my say as well, and tell the story in my own words of how it was, beginning to end.”
Here are the biggest moments from the documentary…
Coleen says it was ‘painful’ to see Vardy so upset in court
Coleen and Rebekah walking into court— (Getty)
Despite the fact that Coleen was dragged to court by Rebekah, she expresses sympathy for her fellow WAG throughout the documentary.
“Rebekah didn’t deserve the trolling she got,” she says, referring to the online attacks Rebekah was subject to after Coleen’s bombshell tweet accusing her of leaking stories to the press.
“Those comments are disgusting,” she says, after vicious posts are read out. “No one deserves that no matter what. People were saying to me, ‘How can you do that to a pregnant woman?’ I didn’t put that post up to cause any harm, it’s because I’d found out who was leaking the private information and I wanted it to stop.”
Speaking about Rebekah’s tears on the witness stand in court, she adds: “It was painful watching her, and in a weird way, I felt for her. It wasn’t nice.”
The trial took a toll on Coleen’s mental health
Coleen says her loved ones told her she ‘looked sick’— (Disney)
In the documentary, Coleen speaks about how worried her friends and family were about her – including husband Wayne, who was at her side in court every day and was often photographed carrying her handbag.
“Wayne looked at me, he was like, ‘Coleen you’re just not you anymore. You look sick,’” Coleen says. “It was just constantly on my mind. I couldn’t get away from it.”
“It made me ill,” she adds. “It completely changed me as a character… I was snapping at the kids. I’m a happy person and I could see people were concerned.”
She says she “felt ashamed” being in court, and describes “feeling sick” when she saw the mean-hearted messages about her shared between Rebekah and her former agent Caroline Watt.
“I couldn’t believe two women could be as nasty about someone they don’t know,” she says.
‘Some of Wayne’s mistakes are harder to forgive than others’
Rooney family selfie— (Disney)
Wayne’s 2017 charge for drink driving is a big focus in episode one of the documentary, due to stories about the couple living apart for a brief period afterwards being leaked to the press.
The former footballer was banned from driving for two years after pleading guilty to being almost three times over the limit in what he described as a “terrible mistake”. Another woman in her twenties was in the car with him at the time.
“You do think, ‘Do I know this person?’ when things like that happen,” says Coleen. “You’re not the person I married and not the person I want you to be…
“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ and I said, ‘Well you can’t be sorry because it’s wrong what you’ve done,’ and I just kept saying, ‘You’re stupid, you’re so stupid.’”
Speaking about her decision to go and stay at her mother’s for a while, she says: “I was just heartbroken, I just said, ‘I cant stay in the house.’”
Coleen’s mother Colette McLoughlin looks back on that time, saying: “You’re mad, you’re angry, you’re upset… I love [Wayne] but sometimes I don’t like him. I feel like shaking him.’”
Coleen says she phoned the woman whose car Wayne was driving, recalling: “Wayne wanted it all to go back to normal but it wasn’t as easy as that. I was still mad and didn’t know what the future was for us a couple. I said to him, ‘I can’t carry on with this.’
“Over the years, Wayne has got himself into situations where it’s caused bad press attention. Some mistakes are harder to forgive than others.
“I know Wayne as a person and I know his qualities, I know his downfalls. There are moments when I think I don’t know him, when he’s been drinking, and that’s when he’s a totally different person.”
Wayne is also interviewed in the documentary. “You get married, you make your vows. I want to spend the rest of my life with Coleen,” he says. “To put myself in a position where I could almost throw that away was so silly and stupid of me, and it’s not what I want at all.”
Coleen reflects on being papped from the age of 16
Coleen and her mum Colette at the World Cup in 2006— (Getty Images)
Coleen and Wayne are childhood sweethearts, and when 17-year-old Wayne became the youngest player to represent England at a senior level, the couple instantly became tabloid fodder.
“We used to live next door to a newsagent and I remember looking and thinking, ‘Oh my goodness that’s me. Front page of the newspaper. And underneath, it was, ‘A murderer is on the loose and he’s escaped.’ And I remember thinking, ‘Why am I half a page on the front of a paper while there were so much more important things going on in the world?’”
Describing paparazzi following her 16-year-old daughter, Coleen’s mother says: “It was non-stop. Non-stop. From one minute she was a grade A student going to school having her exams, to men hiding behind bins, jumping out at her, cameras in her face.”
The Rooneys tearfully discuss the life and death of Coleen’s sister
Coleen with her parents, Tony and Colette— (Disney)
Coleen’s parents adopted a daughter called Rosie when she was 17 months old.
“When Rosie came along, she was a massive part of our life,” says Coleen. “She was a sister that I never thought I was going to have. I used to do her hair and loved picking clothes with my mum for her. She brought that little bit extra to the house. We fell in love with her.”
Coleen explains that Rosie had a rare genetic disorder called Rett which affects brain development, resulting in severe mental and physical disability.
“She struggled,” says Coleen. “She couldn’t walk and couldn’t talk and would be in pain and sick but still would put a smile on her face. She sometimes used to force a laugh out and I think it was just to make my mum and dad happy…
“Gradually her brain wasn’t functioning so she couldn’t eat any more. Couldn’t crawl, move.
“To lose a child is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone, but when you look back now, she gave us so many good years of happiness and love.”
Wayne had a vasectomy
Wayne on the pitch— (PA Archive)
Coleen and Wayne have four children together: Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and Cass, five.
In the documentary, Coleen reveals that Wayne “got the snip” after their fourth child was born.
“I always thought I’d have a few kids, maybe three at the most,” she says. “And then number four came along and we knew our family was complete. Then me and Wayne talked about him having a vasectomy. He said, ‘After this baby, we’re not having any more.
“And Wayne went in and got snip. So I knew for sure we wouldn’t have any more children.”
This is relevant to the documentary because one of the fake stories that Coleen had planted on her private Instagram, to see if it got leaked to the press, was a bogus post about trying for a baby girl and considering gender selection.
Wayne, a true-crime fan, was giving lawyers tips on how he thought they could win the case
Coleen’s lawyers, who are interviewed in the documentary, say that Wayne was “fascinated” by the inner-workings of the legal battle.
“It was interesting,” says Wayne, “because I do like crime documentaries, and in particular the different techniques that two barristers use.”
Coleen says that Wayne started “suggesting legal arguments” and she told him to “shut up” and “let the lawyers speak”.
“He was then gonna apply for law school and he had all these plans,” she says.
Coleen explains why she chose to out Rebekah so publicly
Coleen and Rebekah Vardy during their High Court libel battle— (PA)
Coleen is keen to justify why she chose to out Rebekah online rather than going to her privately first.
“I was angry,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to do something about it.’ Part of me wanted to say something there and then, but the way it had been done to me, it was so sneaky. It was cheeky. No one had come to me to say, ‘We’re going to give this information to the press, are you OK about that?’
“I’d warned time and time again to stop doing this to me, but they never. I didn’t pick up the phone to Rebekah because she’d never respected me in that way, and she’d deny it and make a story out of that.
“I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to do that. She’d done it too many times to me. I felt the only way I could do this was to put it on social media give it to everyone at the one time and put a stop to it.
“I’d started writing some words of what I was gonna say. As a bit of a hint to Rebekah Vardy, to say, ‘I’ve found you out,’ I put a quote on my Instagram saying, ‘Don’t play games with a girl who can play better.’”
Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is out now on Disney+.
