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She’s become one the most famous WAGs around – not just for being Wayne Rooney’s wife but for her world-class detective skills.
And now, Coleen Rooney, whose name became synonymous with Wagatha Christie, is baring it all in a new Disney+ documentary all about how she turned into a sleuth to protect her family and to expose the person selling her private Instagram photos to The Sun newspaper in the UK.
The doccie, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, was released this week and gives Coleen’s firsthand account of the court trial that arose from her accusing fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy of being behind it all.
"I thought, 'I've had enough of this. I'm going to do something about it',” Coleen (37) shares in the documentary. "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.”
The allegations were denied by Rebekah, leading to a public feud and a libel lawsuit. But the wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy lost her legal case last year and was ordered to pay 90% of Coleen’s legal costs after a judge ruled that the accusation was "substantially true".
The Real Wagatha Story premiered at Everyman Cinema in Liverpool with a host of footie players and their wives showing support for the Rooneys.
Coleen and Wayne, the new manager of Birmingham City football club, walked the red carpet with their eldest son, Kai. Her parents, Colette and Tony McLoughlin, were also in attendance.
Sources in Coleen’s camp revealed to the UK’s Daily Mail that the mom of four was reportedly paid £1 million (R23m) following a bidding war for the four-part series.
“What Coleen went through with Becky was pretty awful, there is no doubting that it was a really, really hard time for her and her family,” the insider told the publication.
“She kept her counsel a lot more than Becky did throughout so there was always going to be a lot to share in it,” the source added. “But still, it is a lot of money, hopefully that will have made her feel better about losing four years of her life.”
Fans couldn’t get enough as the drama unfolded online in 2019, but the documentary also digs into Coleen’s life in the public eye over the past 20 years.
Some of the other revelations in the doccie include:
HER MARRIAGE TO WAYNE
In the series, Coleen confesses to telling Wayne, "I just can't carry on with this", in 2017 after he was snapped driving with party-girl Laura Simpson after a boozy night out. Coleen was left “heartbroken” when it came to light while she was on holiday with their four sons, Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass, and her parents.
Her mother, Colette, also speaks of her feelings towards Wayne in the show.
“You’re mad, you’re angry, you’re upset . . . I love [Wayne] but sometimes I don’t like him. I feel like shaking him,’” she says.
"It was just sickening. I've had that feeling in my stomach a few times and I would never wish anyone to feel that,” Coleen says in the documentary. “You do think, ‘do I actually know this person?’ when things like that happen. 'You're not the person I married and the person I want you to be'.”
She also shares how Wayne’s secret vasectomy played a key role in the Wagatha case and getting to the bottom of who was leaking stories.
Coleen reveals that after blocking everyone besides Rebekah from seeing her private Instagram page, she posted a series of false claims, including that she and her husband were keen to have a fifth child and were using gender selection to ensure it was a girl.
When this fake story ended up in The Sun, she knew exactly who the culprit was. Not only because Rebekah was the only one who could see her Insta feed but also because everyone else in her circle of family and friends knew that Wayne had undergone a secret vasectomy following the birth of their son, Cass, in 2018 after the couple decided their family was "complete".
HER SYMPATHY TOWARDS REBEKAH
Even though Rebekah was the one who took her to court, Coleen says she felt bad for the trolling she received online.
“Those comments are disgusting,” she says, after vicious posts are read out. Speaking about Rebekah’s tears on the witness stand in court, she adds, “It was painful watching her, and in a weird way I felt for her. It wasn’t nice.”
HER MENTAL HEALTH
Coleen says her reactive arthritis worsened during the high-profile trial.
“Wayne looked at me, he was like, ‘Coleen, you’re just not you anymore. You look sick’,” Coleen says. “It was just constantly on my mind. I couldn’t get away from it.
“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.”
Coleen says she hopes the documentary will be a way for her to finally find closure after all her family has been through over the past few years.
“It’s brought up a lot of emotions,” she told Vogue before the show’s release.
“And it’s my story to tell.”
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK; THEGUARDIAN.COM; BBC.COM; FT.COM; STANDARD.CO.UK; VOGUE.CO.UK
