Wayne Rooney today claimed his wife Coleen Rooney had become a ‘different mother and a different wife’, adding that she had ‘really struggled’ with the fallout from her infamous ‘Wagatha Christie’ post three years ago.
Rooney also revealed he was asked by England manager Roy Hodgson to request that Jamie Vardy asked his wife Rebekah to ‘calm down’ during Euro 2016 in France, as the £3million trial continued at the High Court in London today. Court observers said there was ‘lots of whispering’ between Rebekah and Vardy during Rooney’s evidence.
Rooney, the side’s captain, said he was pulled aside by Hodgson and his assistant Gary Neville and asked to raise the ‘awkward’ issue with Vardy over concerns that Rebekah was ‘causing problems and distractions’ for the team. He told the court about the conversation with Vardy, saying: ‘We were in the games room, there was table tennis. I spoke to him, he had a can of Red Bull and I had a coffee, I remember those details because it was so awkward.’
Speaking about Hodgson’s request, Rooney said today: ‘They asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew we spoke about it, it was an awkward subject.’ Among the issues was the idea Rebekah had ‘some kind of column in The Sun’, the court heard. Rooney said the boss wanted him ‘to ask his wife to calm down and not bring any issues off the field that were unnecessary’.
Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC asked him: ‘Ask his wife to calm down… she wasn’t dancing on tables?’ Rooney – who had earlier sworn to tell the truth while holding a Bible in his hand – said: ‘No, I wasn’t aware of that. It was a lot of negativity amongst a lot of media coverage which as a group of players and as the manager of England he didn’t want that to happen, so he asked would I be able to speak to Jamie and I went and done so.’
Rooney added: ‘I think there was a few things at the time with Rebekah which the leaders of the team asked me to speak to Jamie about. I was at the understanding Rebekah had a column in The Sun newspaper and as I state… I obviously had better things on my mind. It was obviously awkward for me.’
Rooney added that there had been negative media coverage, saying: ‘I was asked to speak to Mr Vardy by the England manager and I carried out that instruction. It was an awkward situation for me and I’m sure it was an awkward situation for Mr Vardy, but I felt it was in the best interests of the team.’
When told that Vardy denied he was asked to get Rebekah to ‘calm down’, Rooney said: ‘I’m sat here on oath. I 100 per cent spoke to Mr Vardy. If he wants to speak that and relay that back to his wife that’s entirely his business.’
Rooney said he did not remember him and Vardy speaking to a Sun journalist. ‘As England captain I would always try and protect the players in public as much as I could,’ Rooney said. He later added: ‘Everyone knows the history between Liverpudlians and The Sun newspaper, I never spoken to a Sun journalist on a personal level.’
Asked by David Sherborne, Coleen’s barrister, whether he had wanted to be in court for the last six days supporting his wife, Rooney replied: ‘I don’t think anybody wants to be in court but for me and my wife we don’t want to be in court. I’ve watched my wife over the past two, two and a half years, really struggle with everything that’s gone on… she’s become a different mother, a different wife.
‘It’s been really traumatic for my wife through this situation. Hopefully whatever the judgment is… me my wife, our children can go on and live our lives. This isn’t something we wanted to be part of.’
Rooney also revealed he had heard most of the information about this case for the first time during the ‘long’ week in the High Court. He said: ‘Me sitting in this court room this week is the first time I’m hearing almost everything on this case. It’s been a long week. It’s the first time I’m hearing everything on this case.’
He also said that the abuse Rebekah had received was ‘disgusting’. Rooney added: ‘It’s not right for a woman to receive that abuse, but I’ve never really discussed being part of any of this. I’ve been here to support my wife and this week is the first time I’m having any understanding of how it’s all happened.’
Among the other key portions of evidence given at the Royal Courts of Justice during today’s hearing:
- Wayne Rooney said Rebekah Vardy spent so much time speaking to Jamie Vardy on FaceTime during Euro 2016 preparations that it was like she was ‘almost there with the team’;
- Rebekah Vardy referred to Rooney’s cousin Claire Rooney as ‘Wayne’s chavvy sister’ in messages to her agent Caroline Watt;
- Rooney’s manager Paul Stretford also gave evidence today and said Rooney raised the issue of his wife facing leaks of her information in 2017;
Also today, Vardy made his first appearance at the trial as he joined his wife Rebekah to hear former England teammate Rooney give evidence in the libel case against Coleen. Rooney spoke one day after his wife Coleen also gave evidence and described messages between Rebekah and her agent about her as ‘just evil’.
In court today, before he took to the witness stand, Rooney bumped the table in front of him and Coleen as he sat down, spilling a glass of water over the surface. Coleen mopped it up and got out a pack of tissues from her bag.
Vardy, making his first appearance at court, was clearly a comfort for Rebekah, as they sat holding hands. She was seen leaning onto his shoulder with her arm in the crook of his. The Vardys shared a packet of mints as the evidence progressed – and, for the first time, Rebekah was seen to smile at one point. On a notepad in front of her, Rebekah doodled flowers and a drawing of a desert island with a palm tree.
But when Rooney mentioned the disputed ‘calm down’ conversation with his former England teammate, Vardy looked up from the laptop in front of him and shot Rooney a very significant and hostile stare. However, court observers watched Coleen also smirk and sneer towards Rebekah at various points during the morning’s hearing.
Coleen, 36, has accused Rebekah, 40, of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life in October 2019 after she said she carried out a months-long ‘sting operation’ – and the bombshell trial is now in its final few days. Rebekah denies the allegations and has sued Coleen over the ‘untrue and unjustified defamatory attack’, with the last of the defence witnesses – including Rooney and his cousin Claire Rooney – giving evidence today.
In the first five days of the trial, which has seen a tearful Rebekah being subject to a gruelling cross-examination, Leicester City striker Vardy’s absence was noted by many observers. In contrast, Coleen’s husband Rooney has been ever present, sitting at the front of the court to accompany his wife as she too gave evidence.