Described as 'Wags at War', Rebekah Vardy has sued Coleen Rooney for libel and the civil case, which is expected to last for seven days, is being called the 'WAGatha Christie' trial.
If a high-profile court case has its nickname, it is evident that the trial is going to garner a lot of interest. Described as 'Wags at War', Rebekah Vardy has sued Coleen Rooney for libel and the civil case, which is expected to last for seven days, is being called the 'WAGatha Christie' trial.
36-year-old Coleen Rooney, wife of legendary England and Manchester United star, Wayne Rooney, and 40-year-old Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City's hero since the 2015 Premier League title win, Jamie Vardy, are both successful brands in their own right. However, they first became famous through their iconic footballing husbands and made it to the front page for cheering them on from the stands.
Now, Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy are at loggerheads with each other and despite repeated pleas from the judges asking him to settle the matter out of court, neither side is willing to back down. "It's a determination to be right. It's human nature," says the media lawyer Jonathan Coad, explaining why the case is going ahead.
What is the case all about
In October 2019, Coleen Rooney believed someone was leaking information about her to The Sun newspaper and carried out some online detective work to deduce who was responsible. For months, she wrote made-up stories on Instagram and restricted who could read them and waited to see if they would feature in the newspaper.
After weeks of checks, Coleen Rooney ultimately claimed, "I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram stories except One Account. It's……….Rebekah Vardy's account." Mrs Vardy rubbished these allegations, reached out to Coleen to protest her innocence and also posted her defence on social media stating several people had access to her accounts. However, Coleen did not issue a public apology and in June 2020, Rebekah decided to sue Mrs Rooney for libel.
The story behind 'Wagatha Christie'
One person who will be following the case very closely is Phoebe Roberts - the original creator of the phrase "Wagatha Christie". She now lives in Belgium where she is a film curator, but back in October 2019, she was a new mum in London, holding her three-month-old baby in one arm, while scrolling on her phone with the other, when she saw Coleen Rooney tweet about her online detective work. Roberts clubbed WAG - the popular term used for Wives and Girl Friends of sportstars - with the name of the famous detective novel writer Agatha Christie and joked about the case having all the ingredients for it to be called the WAGatha Christie trial.
"It was this amazing story with the dot dot dot ending," Roberts recalls. "It had a lot of drama in it. So, I was just like, 'this is a detective novel or something' and that's when I came up with Wagatha Christie. It is probably the one good joke I've ever made, so I'm glad I got to share it around," she laughs. Roberts has never made a penny from her online gag but has enjoyed finding how far it has travelled. She is expecting high drama in the week ahead, "There have been a lot of developments to keep us interested and now we'll see what the court throws up."
How much would the case cost Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy
Media lawyer Jonathan Coad estimates that the legal costs for each side will be upwards of 1 million pounds and that even the winner will only recover about 70 per cent of their legal bill, leaving them with around 300,000 pounds still to pay. If any damages are awarded, they are only likely to be in the 15,000 to 40,000 pounds range. "It makes no sense for either of them. Even the winner is going to come out with a massive loss," he concluded.