Rebekah Vardy has repeatedly denied leaking information to newspapers after taking the stand in front of Coleen Rooney during the first day of the pair’s High Court libel dispute trial.
Ms Rooney accused Ms Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the media in October 2019, after she said she carried out a months-long “sting operation”.
During a cross-examination by Ms Rooney’s Barrister David Sherbourne, Ms Vardy continued to bat down claims that she was the "leaker".
David Sherborne said: “You wouldn’t want to be called a leaker, would you?”
Mrs Vardy replied: “I have been called a leaker and it’s not nice.”
An artist's sketch of Rebekah Vardy taking to the stand
Elizabeth Cook
An artist's sketch of Ms Vardy sat close to Ms Rooney in the court
Elizabeth Cook
The barrister later asked if Ms Vardy respected people’s privacy, to which she replied: “Yes, I do.”
Ms Vardy told the court: “I didn’t give any information to a newspaper."
Under questioning from Mr Sherborne, Ms Vardy agreed with his proposition that it was “wrong” and “upsetting” for someone to secretly pass on another person’s information that they didn’t want shared.
Mrs Vardy later added: “I didn’t leak anything to anyone.”
Under questioning, Ms Vardy confirmed that she did not tell Ms Rooney that her agent Caroline Watt had access to her private Instagram account.
Mr Sherborne asked her: “You agree with me that if Ms Watt was looking at people’s private Instagram accounts through the use of your account that you’ve given her, that would be wrong, wouldn’t it?”
Ms Rooney arriving at the court with husband Wayne earlier today
Ian West
“Yes,” Ms Vardy replied, later adding: “I didn’t know that’s what was happening.”
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” after publicly claiming her fellow footballer’s wife shared three fake stories, which she posted on her personal Instagram account, with The Sun newspaper.
They included Ms Rooney, 36, travelling to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
In a now infamous post on Twitter and Instagram, Mrs Rooney wrote: “I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.
“It’s ………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Ms Vardy, 40, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Ms Rooney for libel.
Under English defamation law, Ms Rooney must prove her post was “substantially true”.
The full trial follows months of preliminary hearings – none of which have been attended by either Ms Vardy or Ms Rooney.
