Coleen Rooney has revealed she knew she ‘couldn’t give up’ during her much-publicised Wagatha Christie legal battle with Rebekah Vardy, despite her reluctance to take it to court.
The WAG, 38, went head-to-head with the wife of Leicester City star Jamie Vardy in a £1.8 million court case after she accused her Instagram account of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life to the press back in 2019.
Rebekah, 42, denied the allegations and sued Coleen for libel, but the case – dubbed the ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial – was found in Coleen’s favour, and left Rebekah liable to pay £1.5 million towards Coleen’s legal fees.
Coleen was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, and she admitted she would ‘never have lived with herself’ if she had given up during her long-running legal war.
Asked whether she ever felt like giving up during the trial, she said: ‘I couldn’t because she [Rebekah Vardy] was suing me. I tried so hard to say ”Can we settle this”, and work it out before we went to court.
‘I was dreading going to court, because I felt like we were going to argue in front of the whole world – I don’t want that, I’d rather try and do it on our own.
Coleen Rooney has revealed she knew she ‘couldn’t give up’ during her much-publicised Wagatha Christie legal battle with Rebekah Vardy , despite her reluctance to take it to court
‘Going to court if you don’t need to is just putting on a show for everyone else. It was the fact that [to end it] I had to say that I was wrong, and I couldn’t live with myself.
‘To get it away, I could’ve said that I was wrong, but when I thought about it, I would’ve had to live with that for my whole life knowing that I wasn’t wrong.’
Coleen went onto share that in the midst of her court case, she nearly missed an appearance where she was due to be cross-examined, after getting stuck in Berlin.
The mother-of-four explained: ‘She [Rebekah Vardy] was getting cross-examined first, and I sat and watched all that.
‘In a way, I’m glad that she went first because I’d never been in a courtroom before, it gave me a sense of what went on and what I’d be doing when I was up there.
‘It gave me some reassurance seeing her on the stand because there were certain things she couldn’t answer, and I thought if she can’t answer them, why bring me here?
‘I was on the stand on the Friday and was under oath through the weekend. Over that weekend, we watched my son Klay play football in Berlin as his academy had a tournament there. My mum told me ‘Why don’t you go there, take your mind off it – he’ll love to see you there.’
‘Wayne and I finished court on Friday, went straight to the airport, and was in Berlin until the Sunday night.
The WAG went head-to-head with Rebekah in a £1.8 million court case after she accused her Instagram account of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life to the press back in 2019
Coleen was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, and she admitted she would ‘never have lived with herself’ if she had given up during her legal war
‘We were ready to take off, and next minute the lights come back on – the flight got cancelled and Berlin airspace was closed for the night. I burst out crying knowing I was in court in the morning. Wayne said ‘I f***ing told you we should’ve left earlier’.
‘I wanted to stay until the end – there was no point going to Berlin and if they win, not seeing the final.
‘We got off the plane, I called Paul who was in the hotel waiting for us in London, an while we were trying to get flights, we went to the hotel to get a room. We had to wait for our bags to come off the flight, and I had bought my mum this bottle of liqueur – next thing, the bag smashes into pieces. I was devastated.
‘In the end, we had a hotel for a few hours and then got on a flight that got us into Stansted for 7:20am. Paul was in the hotel [in London], and I was telling him what clothes to get out for me.
‘He sent it in the car, I got changed in the car, went to court and got on the stand for 9:30am that morning. I was relieved but dreading the whole thing – that was probably my best day, it took my mind off things.’
Coleen also admitted that the three-year ordeal caused her family life and marriage to husband Wayne to become ‘strained’.
She said: ‘It was the lowest I’d say I’ve ever been. I had no control over it and that was hard. I knew what I was saying was right, but the fact that someone else took me to court and I had to prove it and say it was what it was was tough.
Coleen admitted the saga caused her family life and marriage to husband Wayne to become ‘strained’
‘It was a long period of time and I couldn’t get away from it. Every day, I’d wake up and think “Coleen, just get on with your day”, but it kept creeping back in all the time.’
Coleen went on to say she would become ‘snappy’ and dread Fridays because she would have to face lengthy phone calls with lawyers.
She added: ‘I felt like I wasn’t myself, I was snappy, and every Friday the lawyers rang me – the other team try and ruin your weekend by calling at the last point on Friday.
‘They’d tell me what’s going on and then to try and have a nice weekend. I’d go away and start overthinking things, and start looking for things that he’s asking for.
‘It got to 2am, Wayne would be waiting on the couch to watch something and eventually say “I’m going to bed”.
‘It put a strain on family life, friends. I wasn’t sociable and it stripped me.’
Coleen and Wayne have been together since they were 16 and are parents to sons Kai, 15, Klay, 11, Kit, eight, and Cass, six.
Coleen said: ‘I’ve always been a tough person. I’m not a princess. I’ve always tackled things and got on with it. We [Wayne and I] have helped each other. We’ve gone through everything together.’
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