Rebekah Vardy’s libel case against Coleen Rooney came to a close last month, with the court ruling in favour of Rooney. Now, five days after the verdict was revealed, Vardy is set to discuss the aftermath in a TalkTV interview – her first since losing the case.
The ongoing Wagatha Christie saga, which is set to be turned into a Channel 4 drama, began when Rooney alleged in an Instagram post back in 2019 that Vardy’s account had been leaking stories about her to the press. Rooney’s impressive detective skills, and her “It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account” delivery soon went viral, with Vardy suing for defamation shortly after.
Vardy’s agent and close friend Caroline Watt was also implicated in the case, after Vardy suggested she was the one selling the stories to the press. Watt did not give evidence during the hearing.
Vardy, who continues to maintain her innocence, confirmed she has been in touch with Watt during her TalkTV interview, telling Kate McCann that she had “spoken to her a couple of times”.
When asked whether Watt feels bad about her involvement, Vardy said: “It is not a conversation that we’ve had. It’s not a conversation that I’d want to talk about with her just purely because of I’m so conscious of her mental wellbeing and you know, how, how it’s affected her as well.”
Prior to the hearing, the court had ordered Watt’s phone be searched for evidence, but Rooney’s barrister revealed it had “fallen into the sea”.
In judge Mrs Justice Steyn’s conclusion, she said: “I have found that Ms Vardy was party to the disclosure to The Sun. Ms Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Ms Rooney’s posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt.”
She added: “In my judgment, it is likely that Ms Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chat with Ms Watt, and that Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone in the sea.”
Rebekah Vardy: Coleen and Me airs tonight at 7pm on TalkTV. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide.
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