After several years of conflict that made the British tabloids happy, the conflict between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney ended on Tuesday, with a financial agreement between the two influencers and women of footballers.
The case, started in 2019, had aroused such an interest in the United Kingdom that it had its own nickname: “Wagatha Christie”, reference to “Wag” (“Wives and Girlfriends” – acronym used to designate the companions of famous sportsmen) and the detective novelist.
Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, had sued for defamation Coleen Rooney, wife of the former English football star Wayne Rooney. The latter had accused her of leaking information about her in tabloids.
In July 2022, justice had agreed to Coleen Rooney and, a few months later, had sentenced Rebekah Vardy to pay 1.5 million pounds (the equivalent of just over 1.6 million francs) for the legal costs incurred by Ms. Rooney. But Jamie Vardy’s wife had challenged this decision and a new procedure was to start Tuesday before the High Court of London.
-At the opening of it, lawyers for Ms. Vardy, however, informed the judge that the latter had agreed to pay more than 1.2 million pounds to Mrs. Rooney. The judge took note of this agreement but added even more than 210,000 pounds to cover additional costs claimed by Coleen Rooney. “I am sincere when I assert that it is the end of a long and painful course,” said judge Mark Whalan on Tuesday.
The case started in October 2019 when Coleen Rooney accused on social networks Rebekah Vardy of having transmitted to the tabloid “The Sun” of “false stories” concerning her. In a publication on Instagram and Twitter widely relayed and mocked by Internet users, Ms. Rooney had explained that she had realized that what she published on her private account came out regularly in the newspaper, which at the time had a section devoted to footballers.
Suspecting Ms. Vardy, she explained that she was investigating by “blocking everyone from (her) stories except an account”. She had then published false stories about her life to see if they were in the tabloid, which was the case. Ms. Vardy had denied and decided to attack Ms. Rooney in court for defamation.
