Coleen Rooney breaks her silence following Rebekah Vardy case

Everyone remembers where they were the day that post landed.

Coleen Rooney has broken her silence on the £3 million libel case she won against Rebekah Vardy for the first time. Dubbed as 'Wagatha Christie' in the media, the case saw Rebekah, 41, take a case against Coleen, 37, over the infamous social media post accusing Rebekah of leaking her private information to the press. Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Coleen's post was 'substantially true.' Speaking for the first time since the case to British Vogue, Rooney says she 'stands by' the original post that outed Rebekah, the wife of Leicester City striker, Jamie Vardy, which was published on October 9th, 2019. Coleen, who is married to Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney, tells Vogue where she was and how she was feeling before hitting send on the social media post. "I’d seen the story [about the fake flood in the basement] go online the night before. Wayne was away working in America at the time, so I had put the kids to bed and I was watching some TV, sitting on the couch and looking at my phone," she recounts. "In the night I’d started thinking about what I was going to do. I just wanted these stories to stop." Fed up and knowing the fake flood story would be in The Sun the following morning, she put pen to paper. Literally. "So I started writing what I wanted to say and then the next morning I put it out there. That was the start of something that I would never have expected," she shared. Adding that absolutely nobody in her life, personally or professionally, knew she was planning to out Rebekah, and with good reason, "my friends and family were most surprised at me putting the post up." "If I want to do sunnin’ – and I know I’ll get talked out of doing sunnin’ – I’ll just go ahead and do it," she explains. "I didn’t want no one telling me not to do it," Coleen stated. [caption id="attachment_586742" align="aligncenter" width="1118"] Coleen Rooney. Cover of British Vogue September 2023[/caption] The mum-of-four also cleared up how Rebekah ended up on her private story in the first place, despite not really being that close. Apart from their husbands both playing for England, she felt there was mutual respect and understanding. "Yeah, because I felt like she was in the same world as me. She was in the public eye. I thought she would be protective over that kind of thing. I've never socialised with her. I’ve never had a drink with her." One would be forgiven for thinking that Rebekah disliked Coleen when considering the verdict but the reality was actually much different. The Man Utd WAG says that over the years she had been invited to Rebekah and Jamie's wedding, and a baby shower, but never felt they were close enough to return the invite to the Leicester City WAG. "But the fact is, I don’t know her. I would not invite her – and that’s not me being horrible – I don’t feel like I’m close enough," she stressed. Back in 2019, once Coleen posted her revelations for the world to see, Rebekah, in denial, made it known that she would be consulting her lawyers, much to the panic of Coleen. "I’ve never been in a legal case before so for me it was scary. The thing I was dreading the most was actually going to court," the Scouser admitted. Then came June 2020, and the foreboding of 'Wagatha Christie' when proceedings began by Rebekah to sue Coleen for libel at the High Court. That November, Mr. Justice Warby found that Coleen had used defamatory language in her post, which cleared the way for the infamous trial that would take place in May 2022. According to British law, it was now on Coleen to prove that Rebekah had in fact leaked stories to the press. Describing the experience as 'weird' and 'surreal' to be sitting on the court bench together, she added that she didn't want to make matters worse. "I’m friendly – I’ll say hello to anyone – and I wasn’t gonna sit there and have attitude, but… I found it hard not letting on." "It was so difficult in that courtroom," she continued telling Vogue, "especially watching her on the stand. It was quite painful. I felt uneasy." After Rebekah's claim was dismissed, Coleen was awarded costs by the court, of which £800,000 of the total amount due was payable immediately with pending legal discussions anticipating Rebekah's bill would run much higher. Speaking on the public court of opinion, she says it was 'quite surreal' how many people followed and got invested in it. "Not just footballers or the girls. It felt like everyone was reading about it. All ages, all types. The positivity I got from it. I’m glad. For that, at least." Having moved on with her life, she describes herself normally as someone who is able to forgive and forget, but in this case "it's obviously different." Wagatha Christie is one for the history books!

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