It was the courtroom drama that had the world hooked last July.
And now Coleen Rooney has revealed all in her new documentary, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.
The three-part Disney+ show is set to have viewers on the edge of their seats as Coleen, speaks out for the first time since she won the High Court case against fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy in 2022.
Four years ago, Coleen – who married former England star Wayne Rooney in 2008 – conducted a secret sting operation to try and find out who was leaking information about her family to The Sun newspaper.
Putting out false stories on her private Instagram account – including that their house was flooded, and that she had signed up to take part on Strictly Come Dancing – Coleen suspected that the culprit was Rebekah, who is the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy.
Coleen went public with her investigation back in October 2019, famously sharing in a dramatic Twitter post: “It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Rebekah was quick to deny the claims, and later tried to sue Coleen for libel. But while she maintains she had no involvement in the leaked stories, she lost the trial and was ordered to pay a substantial proportion of Coleen’s legal expenses – which, combined with her own costs, have been estimated to total £3 million.
In the opening moments of the new documentary, Coleen explains that she’d previously been unable to speak as she “was under oath”, but now needed to have her say “to move on in life”.
Here are the biggest talking points…
Coleen explains why she chose to speak out
While many people lived for the drama of Coleen’s big reveal, some others thought it was a little harsh.
So in the docuseries, Coleen was keen to justify why she chose to speak out online, rather than going directly to Rebekah.
She explains: “I was angry. I thought, ‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to do something about it.’ Part of me wanted to say something there and then, but the way it had been done to me, it was so sneaky. It was cheeky. No one had come to me to say, ‘We’re going to give this information to the press, are you OK about that?’
“I’d warned time and time again to stop doing this to me, but they never. I didn’t pick up the phone to Rebekah because she’d never respected me in that way, and she’d deny it and make a story out of that.
“I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to do that. She’d done it too many times to me. I felt the only way I could do this was to put it on social media, give it to everyone at the one time and put a stop to it.
“I’d started writing some words of what I was gonna say. As a bit of a hint to Rebekah Vardy, to say, ‘I’ve found you out,’ I put a quote on my Instagram saying, ‘Don’t play games with a girl who can play better.’”
Coleen found the trolling Rebekah received ‘disgusting’
However, despite the grand reveal, Coleen took no joy from seeing her former friend Rebekah so upset on the witness stand in court.
“It was painful watching her, and in a weird way, I felt for her. It wasn’t nice,” she says.
Referring to the online attacks Rebekah was subject to after the bombshell tweet, Coleen said: “Rebekah didn’t deserve the trolling she got.”
Reacting to some of the remarks being read out, she added: “Those comments are disgusting. No one deserves that no matter what. People were saying to me, ‘How can you do that to a pregnant woman?’ I didn’t put that post up to cause any harm, it’s because I’d found out who was leaking the private information and I wanted it to stop.”
Coleen’s mental health was impacted by the trial
Coleen says the trial was also hard on her own mental health.
“Wayne looked at me, he was like, ‘Coleen you’re just not you anymore. You look sick,’” she says. “It was just constantly on my mind. I couldn’t get away from it.”
Adding that her friends and family were all worried about her, she continues: “It made me ill. It completely changed me as a character… I was snapping at the kids. I’m a happy person and I could see people were concerned.”
Wayne thought about training as a lawyer after the case
Often seen carrying his wife’s handbag as they entered the court, Coleen reveals that her husband Wayne got caught up in it all – and even fancied retraining as a barrister!
After Coleen’s lawyers said the former footballer had been “fascinated” by mechanics of the case, he adds: “It was interesting because I do like crime documentaries, and in particular the different techniques that two barristers use.”
In fact, Wayne got so into the trial that Coleen says he started “suggesting legal arguments”, adding: “He was then gonna apply for law school and he had all these plans.”
The Rooneys discuss Wayne’s ‘terrible mistake’
The Rooneys’ private lives have been well-documented over their 21-year relationship.
During episode one of the documentary, the pair discuss his 2017 charge for drink-driving, which saw him banned from driving for two years after pleading guilty to being almost three times over the limit, while another woman in her 20s was in the car with him at the time.
Wayne described the offence as a “terrible mistake”, with Coleen also sharing the impact it had on her.
“You do think, ‘Do I know this person?’ when things like that happen,” she says. “You’re not the person I married and not the person I want you to be…
“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ and I said, ‘Well you can’t be sorry because it’s wrong what you’ve done,’ and I just kept saying, ‘You’re stupid, you’re so stupid.’”
Coleen says she couldn’t stay in the family home as she was “heartbroken” and went to her mother’s.
She continues: “Wayne wanted it all to go back to normal but it wasn’t as easy as that. I was still mad and didn’t know what the future was for us as a couple. I said to him, ‘I can’t carry on with this.’
“Over the years, Wayne has got himself into situations where it’s caused bad press attention. Some mistakes are harder to forgive than others.
“I know Wayne as a person and I know his qualities, I know his downfalls. There are moments when I think I don’t know him, when he’s been drinking, and that’s when he’s a totally different person.”
Wayne adds: “You get married, you make your vows. I want to spend the rest of my life with Coleen,” he says. “To put myself in a position where I could almost throw that away was so silly and stupid of me, and it’s not what I want at all.”
Wayne has actually had a vasectomy
One of the made-up stories Coleen had shared on her private Instagram during her investigation was about trying for a baby girl and considering gender selection.
However, the story was of particular significance to her investigation, as it turns out Wayne had actually undergone a vasectomy, which they speak about for the first time publicly in the documentary.
Coleen says: “I always thought I’d have a few kids, maybe three at the most. And then number four came along and we knew our family was complete. Then me and Wayne talked about him having a vasectomy. He said, ‘After this baby, we’re not having any more’.”
She explains “went in and got the snip” after they welcomed their fourth child Cass – who is now five – having already been parents to Kai, 13, Klay, 10, and Kit, seven.
Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is streaming now on Disney+.