‘Wagatha Christie’: Rebekah Vardy suing Coleen Rooney over newspaper leak claims

Rebekah Vardy and Colleen Rooney are set to face off in the High Court in a libel battle triggered by a social media squabble.

The pair fell out last October after Rooney tweeted a message accusing Vardy, wife of Leicester and England footballer Jamie, of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun.

In a revelation that earned her the nickname “Wagatha Christie”, Rooney said she had posted three fake stories using the app’s close friends filter in order to find out who had been talking to the media about her.

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Her post concluded with the now-iconic line: “It’s......... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

The fellow Wag denied the allegations and is now suing Rooney, wife of ex-England captain Wayne, for libel and slander in a £1m lawsuit that the Daily Star predicts will be “one of the most explosive celebrity feuds heard in London’s High Court”.

Vardy “denied any wrongdoing and said the stress of their public dispute had caused severe anxiety attacks”, the Daily Mirror reports.

When Rooney first made the claims against her, Vardy said that “third parties had access to her Instagram account and an ITV forensic expert was working to discover who could have been behind the leaks”, the newspaper adds.

Responding to the launch of the lawsuit, Rooney’s lawyer Paul Lunt said: “It is disappointing that Mrs Vardy has chosen to issue court proceedings. Coleen feels that the time and money involved could be put to better use - her offer to meet face to face still stands.”

The case is due to be heard later this year unless a settlement is reached.

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