Rebekah Vardy cried several times on the witness stand yesterday when she was accused of leaking stories and throwing her agent “under the bus” during her testimony in the High Court in London.
As part of a high-profile defamation lawsuit against Coleen Rooney, Ms Vardy wiped tears on several occasions as she was cross-examined by Ms Rooney’s attorney.
Ms Vardy left the witness stand for the third day when she was questioned by David Sherborne in the so-called “Wagatha Christie” case.
In a viral social media post in October 2019, Ms Rooney, 36, said she had had “stabbing surgery” and accused Ms Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” to the press about her personal life.
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Ms Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for defamation.
Ms Rooney defends the claim, saying her post is “essentially true”.
Ms Vardy, Mr Sherborne, cross-examined Ms Rooney and said: ‘Don’t agree, Ms Vardy, if it looks like a leak and smells like a leak and you even use the word leak, it’s more likely than not to be a leak .”
He added: “So when Ms. Rooney wrote on October 9th that she was right to suspect you and your account… she was right, wasn’t she?”
“No, she was wrong,” Mrs Vardy replied.
The lawyer pointed out that Ms Vardy’s agent, Caroline Watt, is not making oral statements after a hearing last month found her “unfit” to do so, and also withdrew her written statement.
Mr Sherborne continued: “The journalists you wanted to call knew Caroline Watt was the source and that it was coming from you, but you didn’t want to do the dirty work yourself.
“That’s why Ms Watt couldn’t bear to end up in court for lying.”
However, Ms Vardy said: “I think she was driven to suicidal tendencies by this trial and the antics of the defendant.”
Mr Sherborne concluded: “I must tell you that it was not she who betrayed you, as you suggest, but you betrayed her by throwing her under the bus.”
the previous Dancing on Ice The contestant appeared emotional as she said: “That’s not true.”
Ms Vardy was also emotional when asked if she’d seen a so-called “flooded basement” post – one of the Instagram stories Ms Rooney claims was only seen by Ms Vardy’s account during her “stab surgery”.
When asked about alleged inconsistencies in her evidence, Ms Vardy said “there was a lot of abuse during that time” before beginning to cry on the witness stand.
As the judge left the room after allowing a short break, a tearful Ms. Vardy rested her head in her hands on the desk.
Ms Vardy previously described the day of Ms Rooney’s viral online post as “such a blur”.
She will be questioned by her own lawyer today before Ms Rooney begins her testimony.
On the third day of the hearing, the High Court also heard one of the articles in the case involving the damage to Ms Rooney’s car in early 2019, with a picture of the damaged Honda being posted to her private Instagram account.
A story was published in The sun about Mrs Rooney’s car three days later, written by journalist Andy Halls.
Mr Sherborne said: “At no time have you objected to the fact that Ms Watt simply passed information from Ms Rooney’s private Instagram account to Andy Halls.”
Mrs Vardy said The sun already had the information, adding, “I didn’t think she was passing on any new information.”
Mr. Sherborne asked, “Let out the word new. Did you or didn’t you know that Ms Watt shared information from Ms Rooney’s private account?”
Ms Vardy replied: “She spoke to Mr Halls about information that has already been discussed.”
The court heard Ms Rooney later posted a public tweet saying it was “sad” that someone who was following her “betrayed” her after the article ran The sun.
While reportedly discussing that tweet in a private WhatsApp conversation, Ms Watt told Ms Vardy: “It wasn’t anyone she trusted. It was me,” in a message accompanied by a laughing emoji.
The lawyer told Ms Vardy that Ms Watt admitted passing the information to the journalist.
She replied: “That seems to be what she’s saying but I’m just looking at the times, at 6.47pm I’m bathing the kids, no reply from me.”
Mr Sherborne accused Ms Vardy of trying to throw herself a ‘lifeline’ and asked why, after bathing her children, she didn’t reply to Ms Watt to contest her statement if she was unaware of the leak and authorized it .
Ms Vardy replied: “Without wanting to make fun of anyone, the next news was that Gemma Collins planted the face on the ice and that’s what I had on while I was bathing my kids.”
Ms Rooney is defending the defamation lawsuit brought by Ms Vardy on the basis of truth and public interest.
The libel fight comes after Ms Rooney publicly claimed one account was behind three fake stories The sun which she posted on her personal Instagram account was Ms Vardys.
In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: “I saved all the original stories and took screenshots clearly showing that only one person viewed them.
“It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Source: independent