Rebekah Vardy has said she feared losing her unborn baby after Coleen Rooney publicly accused her of leaking private information to the press.
The footballers’ wives came face to face in the High Court in London on Tuesday as the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial finally began after months of delays.
Ms Vardy, 40, is suing Ms Rooney, 36, for libel after she accused her of leaking false stories about her to the press in a viral social media post in October 2019.
The wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - who at the time was seven months pregnant with her youngest daughter - said she suffered “strange palpitations” and “contraction-type pains” after she began receiving abusive messages following the publication of the post.
In a written statement prepared for the two women’s libel battle, Ms Vardy said: “I was in such a heightened state of emotion because I was heavily pregnant and it felt like the whole world was caving in on me. I must have been in shock.
“I started getting really bad pains in my stomach … They were contraction type pains and I panicked that the baby was in danger.”
Ms Vardy said she was admitted to hospital three times in the last two months of her pregnancy and was left feeling suicidal and suffering severe anxiety.
The first day of the trial heard how Ms Vardy and her family were subjected to “abuse and threats of a really horrific nature” following Ms Rooney’s social media post.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Ms Vardy, told the High Court Ms Vardy was “jeered and heckled” at football matches and received hateful comments, including one which said she was an “evil rat-faced b****” who “deserved to die” and another that said her baby should be “put in an incinerator”.
In her written statement, Ms Vardy said she would “never forgive” Ms Rooney after she “ruined” the last weeks of her pregnancy with her accusations.
She also alleged she had been made a “scapegoat” by Ms Rooney and her PR advisers for past “leaked” stories about the state of her marriage to former England footballer Wayne Rooney.
Ms Vardy said: “The impact of Coleen’s allegation on me and my family has been traumatic.
“I was genuinely scared that I might lose my baby as a result of the stress I was under in the days and weeks after the post.
“We will never get that time back.
“She was well aware by then that I denied the allegations and that I was suffering horrendous abuse, but she did nothing to stop it.”
Ms Vardy claimed there had been “derogatory chants” of “your wife is a grass” when her husband plays.
“It makes me feel very anxious and upset to the extent where I do not want to take the children to matches to see their father playing,” she said.
“Inevitably a huge crowd chanting slurs about their mum confuses and upsets my children,” she said, adding that her older children had been bullied at school “to the point where they have been scared to go in”.
Ms Rooney turned up to the first day of the trial with her husband, while Ms Vardy was flanked by her lawyers.
The two women sat feet apart on the front bench of the courtroom throughout proceedings.
Ms Vardy was due to continue giving evidence on Wednesday.
The trial continues and is expected to last for seven days.
