Ariana Baio
May 17, 2022
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Former footballer Wayne Rooney has taken to the stand in the ongoing libel trial between his wife, Coleen Rooney, and fellow footballer's wife Rebekah Vardy.
Rooney, 36, spoke in High Court today regarding the lead-up to the post his wife made on social media in 2019 in which she accused Rebekah of leaking private information to the press.
The former English player said he knew his wife was upset that somebody had been informing The Sun of private stories but had no idea about Coleen's 'sting operation'.
“Whilst it was obviously upsetting Coleen, I didn’t want to get involved," Rooney said. "I don’t read the press, particularly The Sun, and I have never been particularly active on social media – or at least I wasn’t active on social media at the time."
Rooney briefly spoke about his private Instagram account, Wazzaroon08, which is separate from his main Instagram account, WayneRooney.
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Asked why he didn\u2019t get involved in the Wagatha Christie case, Wayne Rooney says:\n\n\u201cMy wife is an independent woman who does her own thing\u201d— Poppy Wood (@Poppy Wood) 1652785286
The former footballer maintained that he did not know his wife intended to oust Rebekah on social media. Although, he admitted his wife did mention she suspected Coleen.
"Had I known what Coleen was up to in terms of trying to catch Becky out and making it all public then, irrespective of whether it would have changed her mind, I would have spoken with Paul Stretford (Rooney’s football agent) about it to get his view," Rooney said.
In the witness box, Rooney also told the High Court that he spoke to teammate Jamie Vardy during Euro 2016 tournament about Rebekah's behavior online as it was "causing problems and distractions".
Rooney described the interaction as "awkward."
“They asked me as captain to see if I could speak to Mr. Vardy on issues regarding his wife," Rooney said. "We all knew that it was an awkward subject so I needed to speak to Mr. Vardy and ask him to speak to his wife, and ask him to ask his wife to calm down.”
At the time, Rebekah began writing a column for The Sun which concerned people in the ongoing tournament.
Rooney said Vardy agreed to speak to his wife and later a story appeared in The Sun about the conversation between the two - which Rooney said he paid little attention to.
Back in court to cover #WagathaChristie today - highlight so far is without a doubt Wayne Rooney\u2019s private Instagram, \u2018WazzaRoon08\u2019. No more needs to be said— Eleanor Shearwood (@Eleanor Shearwood) 1652791911
While this is the first time Rooney is taking the stand in his wife's libel trial, he has appeared in High Court beside his wife since it began. Last week, QC threw shade at Rooney.
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