Coleen Rooney confesses Wagatha Christie trial ‘strained’ her family life
Coleen Rooney has opened up about how the so-called ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial affected her family life.
In 2019, Coleen accused her fellow footballer’s wife, Rebekah Vardy, of selling stories about her private life to the press. Vardy has always denied the claims.
The feud between the pair culminated in 2022, when Vardy sued Coleen in a libel case. However, Vardy lost the trial, and was subsequently liable to pay a reported £1.5 million towards Coleen's legal fees.
Now, six years on from the beginning of the ordeal, Coleen has been reflecting on how the trial had a huge impact on her family life with her husband, former footballer Wayne Rooney, and their four sons – Kai (15), Klay (11), Kit (8) and Cass (6).
Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, the 38-year-old shared that the case took a significant toll on her mental health.
“It was the lowest I’d say I’ve ever been. I had no control over it and that was hard,” Coleen recalled.
“I knew what I was saying was right, but the fact that someone else took me to court and I had to prove it and say it was what it was was tough. It was a long period of time and I couldn’t get away from it. Every day, I’d wake up and think, ‘Coleen, just get on with your day’, but it kept creeping back in all the time,” she continued.
The I’m A Celebrity runner-up went on to note that it started to affect her family life, as she explained: “Every Friday the lawyers rang me – the other team try and ruin your weekend by calling at the last point on Friday.”
“They’d tell me what’s going on and then to try and have a nice weekend. I’d go away and start overthinking things, and start looking for things that he’s asking for,” she detailed.
“It got to 2am, Wayne would be waiting on the couch to watch something and he'd eventually say, ‘I’m going to bed,’” Coleen shared, before adding: “It put a strain on my family life, my friends. I wasn’t sociable and it stripped me."
