Coleen Rooney has revealed there was a point in 2017 when she did not know whether her marriage to former England striker Wayne Rooney would “work out”.
Starting her evidence on Friday as part of the so-called Wagatha Christie libel battle against Rebekah Vardy, Ms Rooney alleged that private information about her marriage to the former England captain had been leaked to The Sun newspaper – which Ms Vardy denies.
The TV personality was asked about two specific Instagram posts with her and her children, one with Wayne on her private account, and another without him on her public account.
The posts came after Mr Rooney was arrested for drink-driving in September 2017, and a woman was found in the car at the time. Ms Rooney and their children then went to stay with her parents.
The Derby County manager later received a two-year driving ban and was ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to the charge.
Ms Rooney told the court: “I was in a vulnerable situation, I didn’t know how my marriage was going to work out, whether I was going on with my relationship.”
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Discussing the photo posted on her private Instagram account of Mr Rooney, her and their children in October 2017, she continued: “That was information that I was happy to share in the private group… but I didn’t want the public to know that.”
She was also questioned about the post on her private Instagram account that featured her then three children (the couple now have four) with the caption “no matter where I am they always follow me, and I hope that lasts forever”.
Ms Rooney, 36, told the court that the post was made when she was “going through a difficult time in my marriage” and had just returned from a family holiday.
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She said she had later deleted the post because she was “inundated” with messages asking “if I was OK”.
“I wasn’t in any state of mind to reply to any messages,” Ms Rooney said.
Ms Rooney said that the couple later tried to work out their difficulties privately, but did not want the public to know about their potential reconciliation at the time.
She claimed the text in the post later featured in a Sun article about the state of her marriage.
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Ms Vardy’s barrister, Hugh Tomlinson QC, put it to Ms Rooney that there was not “a shred of evidence” that his client had leaked this post.
“It was someone who was on my Instagram account and I believe that it was Ms Vardy,” Ms Rooney replied.
Ms Rooney is expected to continue her evidence until Monday afternoon, with her husband due to step into the witness box on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by PA
