17 October 2023 , 23:01
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Coleen Rooney has spoken for the first time about her inner turmoil around the Wagatha Christie court case - and the mental and physical pain it caused her.
The 37-year-old made global headlines with her social media post ending 'It's....... Rebekah Vardy ' as she accused the fellow WAG of leaking private information to the press. But when Rebekah responded by taking Coleen to the High Court in a libel case, the row took its toll on her.
Coleen said: "Days after I put the post out, her legal team got in touch. I never imagined being in a legal battle for anything, never mind being in a legal battle for a post I put up on social media. Little did I know it was going to be the beginning of one of the horriblest times I have been through in my life."
Worse was to come as the trial itself scared Coleen, and a new Disney+ documentary series shows that at one stage before the full trial started her legal team - led by lawyers Paul Lunt and Jamie Hurworth - felt they "were f**ked" and had no way of proving Rebekah sent the information to The Sun.
Coleen added: "I was concerned because this meant we had no case. All this fight for nothing. It made me ill. It completely changed me as a character. I remember sitting with my dad one day, we took Klay to football and he just looked at me and said 'Coleen, you're just not you anymore. You're sick.'
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Coleen admitted the stress impacted her children (Instagram)"It was horrible because it didn't want to be around people. And that's not me at all. And I was snappy at the kids. I just hated trying to be happy. And I'm a happy person and I could see people were concerned. It was just constantly on my mind."
Referring to other setbacks in her life including the death of adopted sister Rosie and trouble in her marriage with Wayne in the past, she said: "While other times have been heartbreaking and upsetting, this was stressful. It caused anxiety and there were a lot of tears. I have reactive arthritis, and I’ve had it previously, but this situation brought it on a lot more than what I’ve had before. It stripped me of me, of my character, and I just didn’t want to socialise with people at all. I was completely in my own world."
The case went well though and Coleen did well in court despite being "terrified" the night before and was described by Mrs Justice Steyn as "an honest and reliable witness".
By contrast the judge said of Rebekah Vardy that "significant parts of her evidence were not credible". Coleen's legal team also found phone messages which helped the case to go in her favour and show private instagram messages had been leaked. But looking back now Coleen admits the case - thought to have cost over £3 million - was blown out of all proportion.
She said: "I felt like it was GCSE results day. That nervous butterfly feeling. I was 50/50 I just did not know what way it would go."
On winning she added: "I couldn't process it. It was...I swore and that was the only thing I did. I just swore and I I teared up and it just didn't sink in. Straight away my phone started pinging and messages started to come through.
"It was a pathetic reason to go to court. I wish we could have settled it. I wanted to settle it. The money was absolutely ridiculous and I might not get all the money back."
"But for me, getting justice for telling the truth is the most important thing. I feel like a massive weight has been lifted.
"From when the first Instagram post went in the paper to the court case it must be four and a half years. I can now focus on everything that's important to me."
Coleen also stops short of saying she can forgive Rebekah in the documentary. It is well known she has forgiven husband Wayne for many mistakes over the years, including incidents with other women. But the footballer has always apologised afterwards and owned up to mistakes, something Rebekah has failed to do.
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Coleen brands Rebekah "nasty" and "two faced" in the documentary after reading aloud some of the messages she sent with her agent Caroline Watt. Coleen said: "We all make mistakes in life. And when someone holds their hands up and says I've done wrong, you can forgive and you can move on.
"But she's still denying and still saying it wasn't her. So it makes it a hard thing to do. There's been no leaks from my Instagram since I put that post up, that says a lot."
*Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story launches on Disney+ today (Wednesday October 18)