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23rd Jun 2020

Rebekah Vardy to sue Coleen Rooney over Instagram stories saga

Alan Loughnane

Colleen Rooney Rebekah vardy

“It’s……… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

Rebekah Vardy and Colleen Rooney are set to face off in the High Court in a libel battle over social media claims Vardy sold stories on the Rooneys to the media.

The duo fell out in spectacular fashion last October when Rooney posted an accusation on Instagram about stories being leaked to The Sun newspaper.

Rooney said she posted a string of fake updates about her life in a bid to catch to catch someone who she thought was leaking information to the press, concluding with the historic line: “It’s……… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

It led to a social media back and forth between the pair where Vardy protested her innocence but the dispute was not settled.

Now, according to court papers seen by the BBC, Vardy, 38, is suing Rooney, 34 for libel for the claims she made about her on social media.

Court documents show that Vardy filed a claim for defamation – libel and slander on 12 June, issued in the media and communications list.

What exactly did Rooney say?

Colleen Rooney, a social media personality and wife of former England footballer Wayne Rooney, said she had caught Vardy in a sting operation after information from her private Instagram account was leaked to The Sun.

She publicly accused Rebekah Vardy, the wife of fellow England footballer Jamie Vardy, of being the individual who was leaking the private information.

Rooney said in a statement: “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.)

“Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did! The story about gender selection in Mexico, the story about returning to TV and then the latest story about the basement flooding in my new house.

“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.”

Vardy said she’d never spoken to any journalist about the Rooneys and denied any involvement. She appeared to suggest that other people had access to her social media account.

“If you thought this was happening you could have told me and I could have changed my passwords to see if it stopped,” Vardy said in a statement.

“Over the years various people have had access to my Insta and just this week I found I was following people I didn’t know and have never followed myself. I’m not being funny but I don’t need the money, what would I gain from selling stories on you? I liked you a lot Coleen and I’m so upset that you have chosen to do this, especially when I’m heavily pregnant. I’m disgusted that I’m even having to deny this.”