Wagatha Christie trial ends: Coleen Rooney breaks silence after court battle with former friend and fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy

Coleen Rooney has broken her silence in the wake of an almost after six-year saga involving her former friend Rebekah Vardy.

The English media personality, who is married to England’s football manager and former star player Wayne Rooney, took to X (formerly Twitter) in the early hours of this morning Australian time to share her relief the saga dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ in the British press had finally come to an end.

“This episode is not something that I ever wanted in my life. However, I am thankful for the way my family and team have dealt with it. We look forward to moving on with our lives,” she said.

Her statement came a day after a British court ruled Vardy would have to pay 90 per cent of Rooney’s court costs, which are expected to be $2.9 million.

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The matter dates back to 2019 when Rooney took to her social media accounts to publicly accuse Vardy of leaking stories about her to the British press.

At the time, Rooney said over the preceding months, “someone I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sun newspaper of my private posts and stories”.

She said that after trying to figure out who was responsible for a long time, and armed with a suspicion, she set a trap by blocking everyone from viewing her Instagram Story except one person.

She said she then posted a series of fake stories to see if they were leaked to The Sun, which they were.

“I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them,” she continued, before revealing it was Vardy, who is married to Rooney’s former teammate Jamie Vardy.

The pair played for England’s football side for three years.

For her part, Vardy, who at the time was pregnant, denied the claims and said she was disgusted Rooney would make the accusations publicly instead of contacting her.

She blamed ‘various people’ who had access to her Instagram account or even hackers.

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Vardy launched legal action against Rooney for libel in 2020.

The case finally made it to court in 2022 where Vardy’s claim was dismissed on the basis that Rooney’s statements were ‘substantially true’.

Vardy was ordered to pay a substantial proportion of Rooney’s legal expenses, which at one point was about $3.6 million.

More recent court action has centred on Rooney’s legal costs, with her lawyers eventually agreeing to reducing their fees.

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Rooney has now addressed the drama.

“The ruling yesterday in my favour finally brings this claim to an end, it’s a relief and brings closure for my family and I,” Rooney wrote.

“Throughout this long process, I am grateful that the judgements have consistently gone my way.

“However, as I have always maintained, this claim did not need to be made or run for as long as it did. The time and money should have been put to better use.

“I want to thank my legal representatives, management, friends and family for their guidance and constant support. Thanks also to the public and many well-wishers who have been in touch with such kind messages.

“This episode is not something that I ever wanted in my life. However, I am thankful for the way my family and team have dealt with it. We look forward to moving on with our lives.”

The incident brought much media attention and was even the subject of documentaries and dramatisations.

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