Coleen Rooney reigned victorious as the long-awaited verdict in the sensational £3million Wagatha Christie trial was announced on Friday, with the WAG winning her libel battle against Rebekah Vardy.
The explosive three-year battle has gripped the nation, with a packed two-week hearing at the High Court in May seeing both Rebekah, 40, and Coleen, 36, give dramatic testimony from the witness box.
The case had centered on Coleen’s claims that Rebekah leaked information to The Sun based on posts from the former’s private Instagram account.
As many celebrities and public figures rushed to declare whether they were #TeamRooney or #TeamVardy in the ongoing case, branding experts have claimed it’s good news for Coleen as she’ll be held in even higher esteem by the public, making her ‘more of a national treasure’.
With Coleen – who already boasts a reported £15.5 million net worth – being seen as a trustworthy family woman who is a doting mother to her four children Kai, 12, Klay, nine, Kit, six, and Cass, four, she could score a number of lucrative brand deals with household brands which could earn her an extra £6 million in the coming years.
Now MailOnline takes a closer look at exactly what Coleen looks set to pocket following her legal victory.
What’s next for Coleen Rooney after her Wagatha Christie victory? As WAG wins libel battle against Rebekah Vardy (right) the ‘nation’s sweetheart’ is set for £6 MILLION pay day with family friendly brand deals (on top of her £15m net worth)
What brands and endorsement deals will Coleen get?
Talent manager Jonathan Shalit told MailOnline that the WAG will easily be able to command deals with ‘family brands’, yet revealed she expects she’ll turn her back on the offerings.
Expert: Talent manager Jonathan Shalit spoke to MailOnline about the potential results from the Wagatha Christie case
Jonathan explained: ‘Having four children and a husband in America, she’s probably pretty busy.
‘I don’t think Coleen is out there looking for work because she looks a very responsible, hands-on mother.
‘Whilst everyone will speculate about the work she could get, I suspect the number one premiere job for her will be to be an amazing mum which she is.
‘If you’re a family brand – such as Tesco, Asda, Andrex, Persil, Boots – any family brand with a family product is going to want Coleen Rooney to front their product.
‘She could expect to earn up to £5 million with their support in the next few years.
‘Coleen will create sales, if she lends her name to a product or service, that product or service will get increased revenue because of the association with her.’
Jonathan added that she could also earn a whopping £1 million just to sell her story after winning the case, yet expects she won’t want to go down that route.
He said: ‘I don’t think Coleen is someone who particularly seeks fame, I don’t think she seeks to go on that celebrity roller coaster. You don’t get the impressions that’s what her ambitions are. ‘
What does this mean for her fame status?
Jonathan said: ‘I don’t think Coleen is someone who particularly seeks fame, I don’t think she seeks to go on that celebrity roller coaster. You don’t get the impression that’s what her ambitions are.
‘Many people look at a public moment as a moment to achieve something and I don’t think Coleen is thinking like that.
‘I think she’s probably found this as a massive intrusion of privacy, something she’d greatly prefer not to be doing.
‘She was forced to come to court to defend herself when she had no wish to be in the public eye.’
What impact will his have on her celebrity circle?
Jonathan added: ‘I don’t think winning the trial is going to change her friends, she’s a fairly private woman.
‘I think she enjoys the company of her family and friends, that seems very evident. I can’t imagine because she’s won a court case she’s going to pop up at more opening nights and be more celebrity.
‘She’ll continue being with her children, doing the school run and being a great mum. Yes, she’ll get more opportunities off the back of winning the court case.
‘I don’t think Coleen’s going to change. I get the impression she’s a very balanced, stable woman who has the right values and knows how to lead her life in the right way.’
But will Coleen turn her back on it all?
Despite her status as national treasure being revived, it is thought Coleen will shun the limelight and return to a private life now the trial is over, taking care of her offspring and husband Wayne, 36.
Popular culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline: ‘Coleen has handled this all with a strong and sure footing that will not tarnish her reputation in any way.
‘She painstakingly tracked down Vardy and her Wagatha Christie moniker will be one that can only make her an even more established popular culture figure.
Candid: PR expert Nick Ede gave MailOnline an insight into how the public’s perception may change after the trial
‘We have seen Coleen as a schoolgirl in love with a soccer ace who has had to ride storms of infidelity and brutish behaviour and she has still stuck by her man.
‘We’ve seen her in this trial honestly talk about her life and her reputation and marriage and we have seen her fight for her privacy and what she knows is right.
‘Coleen is a winner in everyone’s eyes, from her fashion choices in the dock to her choice of words when questioned.
‘Knowing her, she will want to get on with her life and perhaps not use her newly refreshed fame for monetary gain or TV stardom.
‘I think she is unlike her opponent – a very happy mother who is happy to get on with her life and be left alone.
‘This isn’t about fame as it was with Vardy, it’s about reputation, and right and wrong.’
Talent manager Jonathan told MailOnline: ‘People were a bit bemused by the court case.
‘In the middle of Covid, when terrible things were happening, to have two footballers’ wives fighting each other in court over a social media argument.
‘It bemused people and neither girl came out that well because of that, because they just thought this is two ridiculous rich, pampered women who are overindulging themselves because of a spat they should have been able to sort out over a cup of coffee.
‘Be that as it may, the picture presented in the court case, was that Rebekah Vardy came out as a fairly odious, self-centred woman, a dishonest woman. That was the picture, I’m not saying she is, I don’t know, but that was what the court case presented.
‘And the court case seemed to present so to the media that Rebekah hadn’t leaked the information she’s accused of leaking.
‘Albeit the court case is unpleasant and probably regrettable for both, by vindicating Coleen, it will elevate her status as an honest woman who can be trusted, and more of a national treasure.
‘Like with Johnny Depp, the sympathy for her will be immense because the person she’s beaten will become a public enemy number one and loathed for a while. So, the loser with be loathed, the winner will be loved.’
What happened in the trial?
Mother-of-five Rebekah broke down several times in the witness box in May as she detailed the horrific attacks she had been subject to – while heavily pregnant – on social media from Coleen’s supporters following the bombshell accusation in October 2019.
Coleen had earned the nickname ‘Wagatha Christie’ after her famous social media post revealed she had set up a sting operation by limiting her Instagram posts to only one recipient… Rebekah’s account.
Private Instagram posts Rooney alleged were shared with the press without her permission included a visit to a gender selection clinic in Mexico, her planned return to TV and a flooded basement in her new mansion.
Quickly grabbing the public’s attention, the case was dubbed Wagatha Christie in homage to the world-famous British crime novelist Agatha Christie.
In June 2020, Rebekah began a libel action against Coleen, arguing that the accusation over her Instagram account was false.
Following an earlier ‘meanings’ ruling, it fell to Coleen to prove Rebekah was personally responsible for leaking stories to The Sun, or convince the judge that publication of the allegation was in the public interest.
Rebekah claimed that Coleen’s famous ‘…It’s Rebekah Vardy’s account’ post, published while Mrs Vardy was pregnant, cost her a book deal and an endorsement for placenta capsules, while also acting as a lightning rod for people to abuse her on social media.
Following the nine-day hearing, Coleen was said to be extremely confident she would win, even missing the last day of the case to go on holiday to Dubai with her husband, former England and Manchester United striker Wayne and their four sons.
In her absence, her barrister, David Sherborne, described Rebekah as a ‘highly unreliable witness’ while accusing her of lying to the court in her testimony.
The mother-of-five told friends that while the trial has been a painful experience, she was glad to the public now know ‘the truth’ and also believed she will win.
Coleen, whose husband Wayne is England’s all-time top goal scorer, claimed the post was a ‘last resort’ after coming to the conclusion someone was leaking information about her to The Sun, but has defended it as being true.
The accusations flew thick and fast as the hearing played out in the august surroundings of the Royal Courts of Justice, each side trying to land a fatal blow.
Intimate insights about the Rooneys’ marriage were revealed, Peter Andre’s ‘chipolata’ manhood was even dragged into the proceedings and the court heard about a mysterious celebrity love triangle.
Each day as the glamorous mothers entered court, their expensive outfits would be identified and dissected by fashion fans as the trench warfare continued in wood-panelled Court 13.
Wayne Rooney, then manager of Derby County FC, was a steadfast presence at his wife’s side in the front row of the court.
Jamie Vardy only appeared towards the end of the trial and was not present in court during Rebekah’s gruelling two days’ testimony in the witness box.
During the trial, Coleen’s barrister David Sherborne argued that Rebekah had a ‘habitual and established practice’ of leaking information about those she knew – through her friend and former agent Caroline Watt – to The Sun newspaper.
Discussing Coleen’s viral ‘reveal’ post, her barrister added: ‘It is what she believed at the time… and it is what she believes even more so now that we have got to the end of the case.’
However, Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Rebekah, said Coleen had ‘failed to produce any evidence’ that Rebekah had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower’ of her private Instagram account by passing on information from it to The Sun.
Mr Tomlinson said the libel battle was a ‘very simple case’ when ‘one clears away the conspiracy theories’.
He added: ‘Mrs Vardy’s case is and always has been that she did not leak the information nor did she authorise anyone else to leak.
‘She does not know to this day what happened,’ Mr Tomlinson said, adding: ‘She does not know where this information came from.’
The barrister added that Rebekah suffered ‘very serious harm to her reputation’ as a result of Coleen’s post.
Some WhatsApp messages sent by Rebekah Vardy’s agent were not part of the footballer’s wife’s libel claim because her former agent Caroline Watt’s phone was in ‘Davy Jones’ locker’ after falling into the North Sea, the High Court was told.
The court heard Mrs Vardy’s agent lost her phone after a judge said it should be searched.
Mr Sherborne said Caroline Watt was ‘filming the coastline’ while on a boat trip in Scotland and dropped her phone, with Ms Watt ‘unable to retrieve it’.
Mr Sherborne said it was a ‘shame’ that messages between journalists – who had allegedly been leaked stories – and Ms Watt were ‘lying at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones’ locker’.
Rebekah replied: ‘Who is Davy Jones?’
Mrs Justice Steyn told her the term ‘just meant the bottom of the sea’.
Mr Sherborne later said four months passed between Ms Watt losing her phone and Coleen’s solicitors being informed.
Rebekah said she did not know why there was a delay.
Mr Sherborne repeatedly claimed that disclosure of evidence linked to Rebekah in the case had been hit by ‘a series of unfortunate events’.
Rebekah told the court some messages were deleted from WhatsApp as she tried to export them.
Mr Sherborne said: ‘You say that as a result of that process, all of the messages on your phone, all the WhatsApp messages on your phone between you and Ms Watt, were deleted, were lost.
‘You know that your expert has described that as somewhat surprising and our expert indicates that someone has manually deleted them from the phone.
‘No-one has said to you that Mrs Rooney’s expert says that there is no possible explanation for how that happened in any other way than someone manually – a human – deleting those messages on the phone?’
Happy couple: Coleen has been married to former football player Wayne Rooney, 36, since 2008
Rebekah repeatedly denied deleting messages.
She later said she ‘can neither confirm nor deny’ what happened, suggesting she may have switched phones during a nine-month period where there were missing messages.
Both women have kept busy this summer, taking several family holidays.
On her Instagram Coleen shared a series of touching photos of the family’s Dubai trip, which included swimming with dolphins and relaxing on the beach.
After returning, the Rooneys posed with Ed Sheeran, as they hung out with the superstar backstage at one of his concerts.
At the end of last month Coleen and Wayne were also spotted taking a stroll along the beach while on holiday in Ibiza.
More recently their eldest son Kai, 12, joined his parents at Wimbledon, with Coleen sharing two photos on her Instagram, including a smiling selfie or herself and Wayne.
Family affair: Coleen is a doting mother to her four children Kai, 12, Klay, nine, Kit, six, and Cass, four
Workwise, Wayne has signed on again as manager of his old MLS club in Washington, DC United.
Coleen described to the court how she was homesick while living in the States when they moved in 2018 and that she would often cry herself to sleep.
This time, it’s expected she will stay at home in Cheshire with their children.
Like Coleen, Rebekah also got away from it all with a family break after the trial.
In June, she posted photos of her holiday abroad on Instagram as she relaxed with husband and children in an idyllic-looking beach setting.
Dubbing her family ‘my island crew’, Rebekah revealed to her followers how she and her kids have been soaking up the sun and enjoying activities such as snorkelling and bike riding.
‘Having the best adventures with my island crew,’ she captioned a photo of herself and one of her daughters.
She also paid tribute to Jamie on Father’s Day, thanking him for ‘everything you do for us’ and describing him as the most ‘incredible daddy’.
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