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The Story

Footballers' wives: Wagatha Christie in the High Court

The Story

The Times

Daily News Podcast, Exclusive Interviews, Daily News, Current Affairs, Global News, News, Investigative Reporting, Long-form Audio, In-depth Journalism, Audio Storytelling, News Analysis, Politics, Uk News

3.91.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2019, Coleen Rooney, wife of former England football captain Wayne Rooney, accused Rebekah Vardy— also the wife of a prominent footballer or "Wag"— of leaking false stories about her private life. Rooney claimed to have discovered this after a “sting operation” on Instagram. Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, sued for libel. As their case is dragged through the courts, what can we learn about modern celebrity from the battle of the Wags?


This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.


Guests:

- Rebecca Twomey, showbiz and entertainment journalist.

- Jonathan Ames, legal editor at The Times.


Host: Manveen Rana.


Clips: This Morning, Loose Women, Channel 4 News, Sky News.

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Transcript

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0:35.2

We want to tell you about our new podcast, Trendy from Toy Toys.

0:39.5

It's all about what people think and why politicians do what they do.

0:44.1

Each week we're going to look at the most important social, political and economic trends

0:48.8

in the hope that we can come to a better understanding of where we are as a country.

0:52.9

New episodes will be available every Thursday morning.

0:56.0

Search for Trendy wherever you get your podcast.

1:08.4

For a few years now, someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been

1:12.8

consistently informing the son newspaper of my private post and stories.

1:17.6

It started as an intriguing tweet that quickly went viral.

1:23.1

Footballer's wife, Colleen Rooney, had had enough of stories about her being leaked to the media.

1:29.1

After a long time trying to figure out who it could be for various reasons, I had a suspicion.

1:34.3

Over the past five months, I've posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way

1:39.4

into son newspaper and you know what they did.

1:42.3

Having conducted her own investigation with a flourish, she announced the big,

...

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