After an explosive seven-day trial, Rebekah Vardy’s libel case against Coleen Rooney reached its climax last week. Now Coleen, 36, and Rebekah, 40, may have to wait weeks before the judge’s verdict following the £3 million trial, held at London’s High Court.
During an intense week of questioning, Coleen’s lawyer deployed an arsenal of damning evidence, which he claimed proves Rebekah, wife of footballer Jamie Vardy, was behind the leaking of stories from Coleen’s private Instagram. Whether Rebekah wins or loses her case, popular-culture expert Nick Ede believes the real cost will be to the reputations of the duo. He believes Becky, wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy, has become “villain number one” in the eyes of the public, while they have “fallen in love with Coleen all over again”.
Here, Closer looks at what may be next for the warring WAGs...
‘In the eyes of the public, Coleen’s won’
Coleen attempted three times to settle out of court – but instead was taken to court by Rebekah and forced to publicly discuss her private life.
And she’s no stranger to her private life being splashed over the front pages, with husband Wayne’s cheating scandals making headlines in the past. But Nick Ede says that Coleen speaking about her previous heartache and her stress after someone sold stories about her worked in her favour.
He says, “The majority of people seem supportive of Coleen and have almost fallen in love with her again. She’s usually very private and was forced to address lots of personal matters, and she did so in a very dignified way.
“Right now she could really capitalise on her popularity. She used to court the showbiz world, but has recently become far more private, and she has always been first and foremost a mother. But I can see lots of big offers coming her way. She’s shown a serious side in this trial, so I even think she could land a documentary-style programme.”
Coleen was spotted with a film crew as she entered the court house. And a source tells Closer that Coleen is now set to make a documentary about the trial and how it’s affected her, following the success of the documentary Rooney, released in February.
The source says, “The last couple of years have been hell for Coleen. This is her story of that time, how she got through it and who she has leaned on when she needed support.
“It is likely to feature other WAGs who have been loyal to Coleen, which brings up a nightmare for Becky as more mud could be thrown her way. She wants the chance to explain why she did what she did and the impact it has had. For Coleen this entire case has come down to one thing
– protecting her family.”
And Nick believes her second documentary could be just the start of Coleen’s career makeover.
He adds, “Coleen is at her career peak and the outcome doesn’t even matter, because in the eyes of the public, she’s won. I think it’ll be extremely positive for her in every way.”
‘The trial will take years to heal from’
Closer’s psychologist Emma Kenny says, “The fact that the whole thing has come to a trial and court case of this nature has been a total disaster for both of them. I don’t think either party could have imagined how intense and intimate it would be. The intrusion was astonishingly deep and could take years to process. It leaves no winners, because whatever the outcome, there is now so much personal information out in the public domain. And they will never be able to recover the time and and money that they have lost.
“The case has been traumatic and, for both of them, there’ll be a long-lasting fear around how others perceive them. There will also have been trauma for them, their husbands and their families, and a sense of guilt within the women for how it’s affected their loved ones.
“I’d advise the women to have therapy, even if they may not think they need it now, the consequences will be far-reaching for both of them.”