Coleen Rooney: Wagatha Christie court case was 'my worst nightmare'
Rooney said the infamous libel case brought by Rebekah Vardy "became a bit of a joke, but it wasn't a joke for me", as ITV News' Louisa Britton reports
Coleen Rooney has told her fellow I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! campmates that the high-profile Wagatha Christie court court with Rebekah Vardy was her “worst nightmare”.
The 38-year-old, married to ex-England footballer Wayne Rooney, said the libel trial with Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, made her feel she was “putting on a show for the whole world”.
Rooney was dubbed Wagatha Christie when she accused Vardy of leaking her private information to the press.
The court case gripped the nation and became a daily spectacle, but Rooney told contestants on the ITV show that it "wasn't a joke" to her.
“That was my worst nightmare to go to court, I felt like it was like putting on a show for the whole world," she told her campmates.
“What got me, over the whole thing, was it became a bit of a joke and that’s really disappointing, it wasn’t a joke for me.
“No one knew the full story.”
Campmate and podcaster GK Barry, real name is Grace Keeling, asked Rooney if she was scared to make the social media post.
Rooney replied: “No, because I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining."
Journalist Jane Moore compared the trial to Diana, Princess of Wales’ relationship with the press, saying: “Can you imagine if Princess Diana would have done a Wagatha Christie? That was epic though what you did.”
“She (Diana) was really good at having a relationship with the media, she played it very well,” the 62-year-old added.
In a now famous October 2019 social media “reveal” post, Rooney claimed her Vardy's account was the only one to see planted “false” stories uploaded to her private Instagram account during a months-long “sting operation”. Rooney alleged that information from them was leaked to The Sun newspaper, which Vardy denied.
After a highly-publicised libel trial in May, a High Court judge found the post was “substantially true”.
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Continues nightly at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX
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