It’s one of the most hotly-anticipated celebrity documentaries of the year — and Coleen Rooney’s 'Wagatha Christie' Disney+ documentary did not disappoint in terms of juicy revelations.
In Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, which premieres on the streaming platform today, the wife of Wayne Rooney doesn’t hold back in terms of telling her side of one of the most high-profile defamation cases of recent years. Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Jamie Vardy, sued Rooney for defamation in June 2020 after Rooney accused her of leaking information about her and her family to the press.
Explaining why she decided to publicly out Vardy, rather than dealing with the issue privately, Rooney says in the documentary: ‘I was angry. I thought, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to do something about it.” Part of me wanted to say something there and then, but the way it had been done to me, it was so sneaky. It was cheeky. No one had come to me to say, “We’re going to give this information to the press, are you OK about that?”
‘I’d warned time and time again to stop doing this to me, but they never. I didn’t pick up the phone to Rebekah because she’d never respected me in that way, and she’d deny it and make a story out of that.
‘I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to do that. She’d done it too many times to me. I felt the only way I could do this was to put it on social media give it to everyone at the one time and put a stop to it.
‘I’d started writing some words of what I was gonna say. As a bit of a hint to Rebekah Vardy, to say, “I’ve found you out,” I put a quote on my Instagram saying, “Don’t play games with a girl who can play better.”’
![london, england october 17 coleen rooney attends a vip screening of coleen rooney the real wagatha story at the soho hotel on october 17, 2023 in london, england the documentary starts streaming on october 18th on disney photo by dave benettgetty images for disney](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/coleenrooney-652fb11400183.jpg?resize=980:* "VIP Screening of "Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story" at Soho Hotel")
The three-part documentary series, which follows Rooney and her husband in the run-up to and during the trial, also touches on the lead-up to Coleen’s realisation that information from her private Instagram account was being leaked to the press in 2017.
In 2017, Wayne was banned from driving for two years after pleading guilty to being almost three times over the alcohol limit in what he described as a 'terrible mistake'. A story was promptly leaked to the press of Coleen staying at her mother's house with their three sons after Wayne was found over the limit and in his car with another woman.
In a lengthy statement shared to her public Instagram account in 2019, Rooney — who was subsequently dubbed Wagatha Christie by fans for her sleuthing — wrote: ‘For a few years now someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing the Sun newspaper of my private posts and Stories. There has been so much information given to them about me, my friends and my family – all without my permission or knowledge.
‘After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion. To try and prove this I came up with an idea. I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram Stories except one account. (Those on my private account must have been wondering why I haven’t had stories on there for a while.)
It’s been tough keeping it to myself and not making any comment at all, especially when the stories have been leaked, however I had to. Now I know from certain which account/individual it’s come from.
I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s … Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
After a highly-publicised trial, in July 2022, Justice Karen Steyn ruled that Coleen Rooney’s social media posts accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking stories to the tabloid newspaper were ‘substantially true’. At a subsequent hearing, Justice Steyn ordered her to pay 90% - around £1.5 million - of Rooney’s costs.
Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is available to stream on Disney+ now.
Naomi May is a freelance writer and editor with an emphasis on popular culture, lifestyle and politics. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard as its Fashion and Beauty Writer, working across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Acting News Editor at ELLE UK and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others.
