It may well go down as the spat of the decade; two WAGS at war on social media, with millions tuning in.
Leicester City WAG Rebekah Vardy, 37, who is heavily pregnant with her fifth child, has strongly denied accusations from Coleen Rooney, 33, that she’s is the ‘frenemy’ who’s been leaking stories to the press about her.
However, the online confrontation certainly puts the wife of Jamie Vardy firmly back in the spotlight, a place the outspoken former barmaid clearly feels very comfortable in.
The daughter of a BBC local radio DJ and a window cleaner father, Rebekah has spoken out about her tough upbringing, revealing she once lived on a council estate and was sexually abused as a young teenager. She claims she was asked to leave home at just 16 after a series of rows with her parents.
After two failed marriages and a relationship with League One footballer Luke Foster – the father of her son Taylor- she ‘upgraded’ in the words of a former partner, to Jamie Vardy.
The couple, who have been married since 2016, live with their five – soon-to-be-six – children in the palatial house close to Leicester, where Jamie is a striker for the city’s Premier League club.
Teen wedding bells; Rebekah Vardy wed Mark Godden in a £7,000 ceremony when she was just 19; when she appeared on I’m a Celebrity in 2017, her former husband, who she was married to for just six months, said he hoped she would ‘go through hell’ during the reality show
Wags at war: Rebekah Vardy, currently heavily pregnant with her fifth child, was named by Coleen Rooney as the frenemy responsible for selling stories about her
The couple married in 2016 at luxurious Peckforton Castle in Cheshire although many of Jamie’s close family didn’t attend the nuptials, with Rebekah blamed for causing a rift between Jamie and his mother Lisa and stepfather Phil (Pictured at the Pride of Sport Awards, London, 2018)
Rebekah, ‘Becky’ to close friends, was first married to Mark Godden after a whirlwind romance when he was 21-years-old and she was just 18.
They met at his local pub in Witney where she was a barmaid and he was playing in the darts team.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2017, he claimed they became engaged when Becky Nicholson, as she was then called, spotted a ring in a magazine and told him: ‘I want that. Buy it for me.’
It’s reported the pair spent £7000 on their wedding on the beach in Mexico in 2001, but the union lasted just six months.
Room for the brood! The family live in a palatial mansion in Leicestershire that boasts its own gym and swimming pool (Pictured in September at Legoland, from left: Jamie Vardy, son Finley Jaiden, son Taylor, daughter Sofia, Rebekah and Megan)
Own goal? Vardy, who has soon-to-be five children by three fathers, has strongly denied the allegations by Coleen (The pair pictured supporting their husbands at the World Cup in 2018)
Rebekah later admitted that she’d had sex with Peter Andrew while still married to mark, but confessed the Australian singer was the ‘worst lover’ she’s ever had.
Speaking of his ex, after seeing her appear on I’m A Celebrity, Mark told the Sun: ‘I’m an avid fan [of the show] and this year it’s even better because my ex is on it. While I don’t want to see her win, although she’d love to, I want her to go through hell.’
Becky then went on to date Steve Clarke, her boss at a timeshare company, and during their on-off relationship, she fell pregnant by another man.
Aged 23 and eight months pregnant with her daughter Megan, she tied the knot with Steve, which she’s since described as the ‘biggest mistake of her life’.
They soon moved to Cyprus and the marriage broke down after 10 months, when Steve allegedly cheated on her.
Becky fled back to the UK with Meghan and weeks later, Clarke was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of causing death by reckless driving in a head-on crash which killed a father and grandfather.
Her next significant relationship was with ex-lower league footballer Luke Foster, father of her son player who she met in 2007 when he was playing for Conference side Oxford United.
The reality television star has been honest about her love of cosmetic enhancements, saying she’s had ‘loads of Botox’ and a breast enlargement
Jungle capers: The outspoken WAG found herself being offered a place on I’m a Celebrity in 2017 following Jamie Vardy’s role in Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League win in 2016
After Foster’s career faltered and he ended up playing for more lower league clubs including Lincoln City, he says he felt compelled to put lavish spending on a credit card to keep up with Rebekah’s desire for a luxury lifestyle.
‘Becky was finding it a struggle. We weren’t doing that badly, in my mind – living in a five-bed house, driving around in a Mercedes,’ he told the Mirror.
The couple parted amicably in 2013 and Rebekah, who was working in Viper nightclub in Sheffield, a job Foster got her, soon moved on to her current love match Jamie, who she met while planning his birthday party.
Just three months later, she fell pregnant with their daughter Sofia.
Foster said: ‘She’s now got the husband she always wanted, one who can keep her in the lifestyle she’s dreamt of. She’s got the shopping, the house, the car. She’s living her perfect life.
‘I don’t need the money’: Rebekah denied all accusations against her minutes after the post and said she had nothing to gain and had no financial motivation – she also slammed her for going public when she is heavily pregnant
‘Becky upgraded. She said that to my face. She said he’d treat her a hell of a lot better.’
Becky and Jamie went on to wed at a lavish ceremony at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire in 2106.
But many of her husband’s close family stayed away, with Rebekah blamed for causing a rift between Jamie and his mother Lisa and stepfather Phil, who did not attend their wedding.
Jamie’s daughter Ella, then five, was kept away from the glitzy nuptials by his former girlfriend Emma Daggett. Indeed, Rebekah’s own mother, Alison Nicholson, was also not in attendance.
WAG DREAMS: PALATIAL LECEISTERSHIRE MANSION THE VARDYS CALL HOME
Rebekah Vardy has frequently given her 389,000 followers on Instagram an insight into the lavish home she shares with her Leicester City striker husband.
The WAG often shows off her beautiful and flower-filled Leicester home on Instagram
Working out: Becky regularly posts pictures from during and after her workout in the huge home gym
The couple, who have been married since 2016, live with their five children in the palatial house close to Leicester, where Jamie is a striker for the city’s Premier League club.
Photos from inside the home include one of her daughter playing with make up in Becky’s massive dressing room and walk-in wardrobe, a hairdressing room, bar, a large gym and an indoor pool.
Other photos reveal her love for all things bling, including several mirrored cabinets and dressers, a large silver sofa, a glass floor and sumptuous furnishings.
Many of her posts feature her adorable children playing with their mountains of toys and dressed impeccably.
When Leicester clinched the title in fairytale fashion that same year, Rebekah’s star was, finally, firmly in the ascendant, with the offer of an appearance on I’m A Celebrity the following year quickly materialising.
The WAG was clearly the pretender to Coleen’s throne too, appearing in faithful fashion wearing an England shirt as Jamie turned out, alongside Wayne Rooney, during the 2018 World Cup.
Blissfully happy with her latest flame, the couple share two children already, Sofia and Finley Jaiden, three, as well as Megan, 13 and Taylor, eight, from her previous relationships.
The Vardys have two children together, Sofia, four, and three-year-old Finley Jaiden. She is also mother to Megan, 13 and Taylor, eight, from previous relationships. Jamie has a seven-year-old daughter, Ella, from a previous relationship
She’s been refreshingly frank about her cosmetic enhancements too. She told You Magazine shortly after Leicester City were crowned champions that she’d had ‘loads of Botox’.
She added: ‘And I’ve had a boob job, too. I can’t bear it when women lie about this stuff. I go in the sun and I’ve hardly got any wrinkles. It’s not nature, it’s Botox.’
However this spat ends with Coleen, it’s clear that Rebekah plans to come out fighting.
Responding to Coleen’s dramatic allegations, Rebekah’s spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Please refer to Becky’s social media posts.
‘It isn’t true, she is now very upset and stressed, so has passed it to her legal team to deal with. Such a shame that Coleen didn’t just call her when she had her number.’
A TOUGH UPBRINGING THAT SAW HER ASKED TO LEAVE HOME AT 16
Born Rebekah Miranda, the eldest daughter of a BBC local radio DJ mother and a father who worked as a window cleaner (he is now a chauffeur), Vardy spent her early life moving from one city to another – including Norwich, Reading and Oxford – as her increasingly mismatched parents tried to find work.
When she was nine, the family lived on a council estate in Witney, near Oxford. Within two years her parents had split up and, Rebekah recalls, ‘That was it. It was like my childhood was over. I was this happy kid, but over the next four years everything changed.’
Rags to riches: Vardy endured a tumultuous upbringing, she says, and was sexually abused while a young teenager. She was asked to leave home at just 16 (Pictured at Grosvenor House, London in 2017)
Her mother quickly remarried (the family name changed to Nicholson after Alison wed BBC radio presenter Ian Nicholson) and her daughter rebelled. ‘I got into trouble at school for fighting, drinking and behaving badly. I went off the rails. I was unhappy and very confused.’
At 13, the troubled teenager allegedly began to be sexually abused by a family friend. ‘I would freeze every single time, terrified. I didn’t know what to do. I would just cry in my room later. I bottled it all up,’ she said recently. As her behaviour spiralled out of control, she fought continuously with her mother and stepfather.
At 15, she took an overdose and then told her mother about the abuse but, according to Rebekah, her mother refused to believe her. ‘She said, “Don’t be ridiculous, you are lying.”
I’d been naughty for so long she thought I was talking nonsense.’ A matter of months later, Rebekah claims, she was asked to leave the family home at 16.