Rebekah Vardy explains why she’ll ‘never’ quit social media despite Wagatha Christie scandal

‘As long as my kids are happy, none of it matters,’ says Dancing on Ice star

Olivia Petter
Saturday 09 January 2021 12:51 EST
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Rebekah Vardy has said she’d “never” quit social media despite the so-called “Wagatha Christie” scandal.

In October 2019, Coleen Rooney accused Vardy of leaking news about her to the tabloid press using information gleaned from following Rooney’s private Instagram account.

Vardy has since issued a claim of libel against Rooney over their widely publicised social media fallout.

Court listings show that Vardy filed a claim for “defamation – libel and slander” to the High Court on 12 June.

In November, Rooney was ordered to pay Vardy £23,000 in costs after Mr Justice Warby rejected claims that Rooney’s accusation was addressed to Vardy’s social media account rather than at Vardy as an individual. A trial was scheduled for Februrary 2021.

Now, in an interview with The Times, Vardy was asked if the scandal had left her tempted to quit social media.

“I’ll never do that," she replied. 

"I went through so much crap in my life being told I couldn’t do this or that. Now I would never allow someone I don’t know to control what I want to do.”

At this point in the interview, Vardy’s manager added: “This year taught you to ignore social media more, didn’t it?”

Vardy replied: “Yeah. My eldest saw stuff on it that really affected her. I told her, you have to go, ‘Do I really care?’ Well, no, not really. As long as my kids are happy, none of it matters.”

Vardy has five children, including three with her husband, footballer Jamie Vardy. She was seven-months pregnant with Olivia Grace, born in December 2019, when the Wagatha Christie scandal unfolded.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in