Their imminent High Court showdown hit a tense new low last week, with Rebekah Vardy reportedly pushing to get Coleen Rooney into court as soon as possible amid their ongoing WAG war.
The move came as her team insisted Coleen was “dragging her heels” by failing to file a defence to Rebekah’s claim that Coleen defamed her by publicly accusing her Instagram account of leaking stories, something Rebekah has always denied.
Despite their looming legal case – predicted to be one of the most bitter celebrity court battles ever – both Coleen, 34, and Rebekah, 38, defiantly shared carefree family portraits on Instagram last weekend.
Coleen posted a montage of cute snaps of her enjoying two family days out in Alton Towers theme park – one with her eldest son Kai, nine, and the other with her seven-year-old son Klay.
“Always a summer holiday favourite for my boys. We all had a great time,” Coleen – who is also mum to Kit, four, and Cass, two, with husband Wayne Rooney, 34 – gushed.
Meanwhile, Rebekah shared a romantic image of herself and husband Jamie Vardy, 34, holding hands and walking away from the camera during a sunny getaway to Mykonos. She simply captioned it with a love heart emoji, while her hubby commented, “Love you”.
And celebrity body-language expert Judi James says she believes there’s a secret motive to the relaxed and cheery posts, with the two women sending hidden messages to each other.
“Becky and Coleen seem to be keen to present similar states, with both women appearing to want to show the kind of body language that suggests an almost carefree sense of confidence, emotional strength and invincibility,” Judi explains.
“These images of perfect family life do look like deliberate messages to the other side. Neither woman could be relishing the thought of a court case, but both clearly want to be seen looking relaxed and happy – and therefore resilient.
“This behaviour would be similar to the displays seen prior to boxing bouts. Opponents try to out-psyche each other in a display of strength, in a bid to either intimidate their opponent or to try to make them back down. Some of the smiles look rather rigid, but overall the message could be that they each expect to be the one having the positive outcome from the case.”
Rebekah’s calm and contented persona is a far cry from the start of the public feud last October, when she hit back at Coleen’s now-infamous Wagatha Christie post in an emotional Instagram message, saying, “I’m so upset that you have chosen to do this especially when I’m heavily pregnant.” And in February, Rebekah broke down on TV as she discussed the trolling she had endured after the fall out.
From Coleen to Cheryl - where are the 2006 WAGS now?
The UK Wags - where are they now?
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1 of 9Victoria Beckham
One half of the indestructible Beckham brand, Victoria was the original Queen WAG in 2006. At the time Victoria had been married to David for seven years and had just given birth to her third boy, Cruz. She had also just launched her denim line, dvb Style and walked the catwalk for Roberto Cavalli. Over a decade later, she is a fully fledged and well respected fashion designer, with a fourth addition to her brood – the adorable Harper.
2 of 9Coleen Rooney
Coleen rose to fame as a WAG at just 20 years old. Coleen and Wayne are married and they celebrated their ten-year anniversary in 2018. However, Wayne's repeated cheating has strained the relationship over the years. They have four children together, Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass. Since 2006 Coleen has released a fitness DVD, been a style advisor for Littlewoods and even had a column with us in Closer magazine.
3 of 9Cheryl
How could we forget Cheryl as a WAG? Back then, 23-year-old Cheryl was a popstar in Girls Aloud who had just married Ashley Cole. Nowadays, Cheryl is a household name and a worldwide celebrity in her own right. After splitting from Ashley in 2010, she had a successful (well, successful-ish) solo career, was a judge on The X Factor and was the face of beauty brand L'Oreal. She married Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in 2016 but they divorced three months later. Most recently, Cheryl separated from One Direction singer, Liam Payne, who she has a baby son called Bearwith.
4 of 9Abbey Clancy
Abbey first grabbed our attention in 2006 as one of the finalists in Britain's Next Top Model. She began dating Peter Crouch that same year and the pair are now married with three kids Sophia Ruby, Liberty Rose and baby Johnny. Lingerie model Abbey went on to win Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 and she returned to Britain's Next Top Model as the show's presenter. Not bad work, eh?
5 of 9Danielle Lloyd
Danielle Lloyd was dating footballer Teddy Sheringham when she gained her WAG status. At the time, her title as Miss Great Britain was a controversial matter and she was later stripped of it. Fast forward to now and Danielle has appeared on TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother, Total Wipeout, The Weakest Link and even Come Dine With Me. She has three sons, Archie, Harry and George with her now ex-husband Jamie O'Hara. Danielle gave birth to a fourth child with her husband Michael O'Neill, Ronnie, in 2017.
6 of 9Elen Rivas
Elen Rivas was engaged to Frank Lampard at the time of the 2006 World Cup, and was a permanent fixture in the WAG circle. After splitting from Frank after a seven-year relationship, she dated Peter Andre, appeared on Dancing On Ice and now looks after her two daughters Luna and Isla while working as a model. Frank has since married TV presenter Christine Bleakley and they've welcomed their daughter Patricia into the world.
7 of 9Louise Owen
Despite being married to one of the most famous footballers at the time, Louise Owen wasn't your stereotype WAG. She has always managed to keep her distance from the limelight. Her passion is rescuing race horses and she currently lives in Wales with her husband Michael and their four children, Gemma, James, Jessica and Emily.
8 of 9Carly Zucker
Now known as Carly Cole after marrying midfielder Joe Cole in Chelsea in 2009, Carly loved to party during the 2006 World Cup (we know the feeling). She then spent two weeks in the jungle during I'm A Celeb in 2009 before being the third to be booted out. Carly and Joe have had three children, Ruby, Harrison and Max together.
9 of 9Alex Curran
Former nail technician Alex Curran began dating Liverpool player Steven Gerrard in 2002. She was one of the leading figures in the 2006 WAG squad. The pair married in 2007 and they have had four children together, Lexie, Lio, Lord, Lilly-Ella. Fashion lover Alex has released a perfume, fronted a Lipsy campaign and written a weekly shopping column for a national newspaper.
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Coleen, however – who has 15 years more experience of life in the public eye and has been called “guarded and private” by fellow WAGs, including Annie Kilner and Lizzie Cundy – has displayed no such emotion.
Her public persona has seen her composed and in control – just two weeks after Rebekah made her accusation that Coleen had betrayed her, a few days after wagatha, he was in a nightclub in Washington and pictured with a waitress in a thong serving him cocktails. But shortly afterwards, Coleen was seen enjoying a night out in Manchester with fellow WAG Leanne Brown, apparently unfazed by the headlines.
And the pictures are likely fuelling a psychological fight between them, as sports psychologist Martin Perry – author of The Confidence Booster Workout and who has worked with Premier League footballers and Olympians – believes both Coleen and Rebekah may have picked up confidence tactics from their sporting husbands to get them through the trial.
Watch: Danielle Lloyd reveals the body part her fans can't get enough of
Martin tells Closer, “To get through tough times, sport stars such as Jamie and Wayne are told to find internal resources for support. This could be why Becky’s putting more family photos up – she’s realised she gets her strength from them, and she feels more confident when surrounded by them.
“She doesn’t want to seem the weaker one in this public battle. She needs to draw on her family to give her strength in this mentally challenging feud. Coleen has been in the public eye longer – it could explain why her demeanour has never been anything other than calm.
“She’s far more experienced in putting on a brave face and not letting people know what she’s truly thinking or feeling. We’re all vulnerable at some point and it’s how we prevent those vulnerabilities from causing us to crumble that keeps the top people at the top.”
Ms Vardy's lawyers have asked us to make clear that the court documents referred to in the article above, filed on 27 August 2020, had already been agreed by both parties. Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney had agreed in that document that there should be a meaning hearing to determine what the post published by Ms Rooney means. Both sides had also already agreed that the time for serving any Defence may be extended until after this hearing.