The libel trial brought by Rebekah Vardy against Coleen Rooney has entered its second day.
Rooney is being sued after she accused Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie, of leaking “false stories” to the tabloid press.
In October 2019, Rooney sent shockwaves across social media when she published a Twitter post alleging that Vardy had been sharing posts from her private Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
Rooney said she had suspected that someone whom she “trusted” had been behind the leaks and in a bid to catch out who was sharing the information, she had restricted access to who could see the posts.
“After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion. To try and prove this, I came up with an idea,” she explained.
“I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram stories except ONE account.
“Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into The Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!
She alleged: “Now I know for certain which account / individual it’s come from. I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s ……………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Vardy denied the allegations, writing in a post to her own Twitter account that she “never” speaks to journalists about Rooney.
“If you thought this was happening you could have told me and I could have changed passwords to see if it stopped,” she wrote.
“Over the years various people have had access to my [Instagram] and just this week I found out I was following people I didn’t know and have never followed myself.
“I’m disgusted that I’m even having to deny this. You should have called me the first time this happened.”
Here’s everything we know about Rooney and Vardy’s friendship.
How did Coleen and Rebekah meet?
The pair are thought to have met through their footballer husbands.
In 2016, they were pictured sitting next to each other in the stands of the England v Wales game at the Euro championships.
Vardy was dressed in an England shirt, while Rooney wore a striped red shirt.
Both women were seen smiling, cheering and animatedly throwing their arms in the air as England won the game 2-1.
The game is the only time the pair have been spotted together publicly.
Did they have a close friendship?
Writing in her 2019 Twitter post, Rooney described Vardy as someone she “trusted”.
“For a few years now someone who I have trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sun newspaper of my private posts and stories,” she said.
Vardy wrote on Twitter that she was “so upset” by the allegations, and that she liked Rooney “a lot” prior to the falling out.
“I’m disgusted that I’m even having to deny this. You should have called me the first time this happened,” Vardy said.
Are their husbands friends?
Wayne and Jamie have had a close working relationship, with both playing for England in the Euro 2016 games.
During the tournament, rumours surfaced of a feud between the pair after Wayne reportedly “warned” Jamie against Vardy’s social media presence, according to The Times.
Vardy denied the reports at the time, writing on Twitter that the rumours were “nonsense” and that the outlets reporting on them “must be just having a bad day”.
The rift was also denied by England manager Roy Hodgson, who told a press conference that there were “absolutely no problems” between Wayne and Jamie.
“In fact, quite the opposite, they are very close friends both on the field and off the field. I certainly would advise Wayne of giving no comment to it because it’s obviously one very salacious story that someone’s managed to sort of spin, but it’s got no interest to us.”
