Wayne Rooney tried to stop Wagatha Christie saga but Coleen 'wouldn't listen'

17 October 2023 , 08:39

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Wayne Rooney tried to stop Wagatha Christie saga but Coleen 'wouldn't listen'

Wayne Rooney tried to stop the Wagatha Christie scandal before it started, according to Coleen's eagerly-awaited documentary.

Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is released on Disney+ tomorrow and explores the jaw-dropping legal case in which the WAG won a libel trial against Rebekah Vardy. What became known as the Wagatha Christie case first unfolded in 2019, when Rooney accused Vardy of leaking information about her private life to the press, after publishing fake stories to her Instagram account, in an explosive statement shared on social media.

According to the Disney+ documentary, Wayne urged Coleen to stop posting on social media to protect their privacy, but she 'wouldn't listen'. He says in the docuseries: "I said to Coleen 'just delete it'. Social media is not something you necessarily need. She said 'no' and that is the way she is, she is quite stubborn. But that is one of the things I like about her. She's got her own mind and she'll do things in her own way."

Wayne Rooney tried to stop the Wagatha Christie scandal before it started, according to Coleen's eagerly-awaited documentary (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Private Instagram posts sent by Coleen were leaked to the press – including one which showed the couple were back in the same house after they separated when the former footballer was caught drink-driving with another woman in the car in 2017. Speaking about the 'betrayal', Coleen says: "It was their way of saying we were back together. There was a pattern with the stories, all published in The Sun. It made me angry because there is a history of being from Liverpool and not agreeing with things that The Sun have done. I posted another warning to say please stop. I felt betrayed. It was sly."

During the explosive Wagatha Christie trial last year, Coleen told the High Court: "I was in a vulnerable situation. There had been some wrongdoing by my husband. I was spending a lot of time at my parents’ house. I didn’t know how my marriage was going to work out. Me and Wayne were trying to figure out our relationship and where we were going. But I didn’t want people to know that... I hadn’t settled on, 'This is it, we are getting back together'."

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The mum-of-four said she launched her so-called Wagatha Christie sting operation because she felt betrayed that someone had leaked information to The Sun during their marriage crisis. Vardy denied the claims, and went on to sue her fellow WAG for libel. After an intensely publicised trial, the judge ruled in Rooney’s favour and dismissed the claim against her, saying it was "likely" that Vardy’s agent at the time "undertook the direct act" of passing the information to The Sun.

Disney+ announced it was producing a documentary less than a month later. Over three episodes, The Real Wagatha Story will explore the jaw-dropping court case, told through exclusive access to Rooney, her family, legal team and key players involved in the trial.

•Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story premieres with a three-episode launch on Disney+ on Wednesday, October 18.

Victoria Johns