Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney have arrived at the High Court in London for their high-profile libel battle.
Mrs Rooney accused Mrs Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the media in October 2019, after she said she carried out a months-long “sting operation”.
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” after publicly claiming her fellow footballer’s wife shared three fake stories, which she posted on her personal Instagram account, with The Sun newspaper.
They included Mrs Rooney, 36, travelling to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
In a now infamous post on Twitter and Instagram, Mrs Rooney wrote: “I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.
“It’s ………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Mrs Vardy, 40, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel.
Under English defamation law, Mrs Rooney must prove her post was “substantially true”.
The full trial follows months of preliminary hearings – none of which have been attended by either Mrs Vardy or Mrs Rooney.
Mrs Rooney arrived on Tuesday morning with her husband, also 36, who had a trophy-laden career with Manchester United and is now manager of Derby County.
Wearing a black suit and with her foot in a brace, she entered the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand by the front entrance, flanked by a crowd of photographers.
Mrs Vardy arrived moments after Mrs Rooney entered the building, wearing sunglasses and a long blue-buttoned dress.
Both women sat at the front of court at the start of the hearing.
They are both expected to give evidence in the seven-day trial, as is Mr Rooney.
The case had its first court hearing in November 2020, with a judge finding that Mrs Rooney’s post “clearly identified” Mrs Vardy as being “guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust”.
The trial before Mrs Justice Steyn continues, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.
