Rebekah Vardy has insisted she is ‘deeply sorry’ for a historic article about Peter Andre, and said she sent the singer a ‘personal message’ over the piece as she entered the witness box on day four of her legal battle with Coleen Rooney.
Vardy – who is suing Rooney for libel – is due to finish her evidence today, with Rooney then taking her place in the witness box in Court 13 of the Royal Courts of Justice.
Earlier this week Vardy was questioned about an interview she gave to the News Of The World in 2004 over an encounter with Andre, with Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne showing what appeared to be an A3 print-out of the article before reading the headline: ‘Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes.’
Speaking again about the article on Friday, Vardy – who has been giving evidence for around 10 hours, and, at times becoming emotional in the witness box – said she did not say many things presented in the article published.
She told the court: ‘There’s a lot of things in there that didn’t come out of my mouth that were misrepresented in the circumstances around that article I’m deeply sorry for.’
Vardy also said she was ‘very young’ at the time, had apologised for the article, and that it was ‘shameful’, adding that she had sent ‘personal messages’ to Andre and his partner since it was published.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video
The WAG, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, had previously shared her regret over the article and noted: ‘It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me…’
In response, yesterday Andre shared a video response to the dredging up of the article, saying he’d been the butt of jokes for 15 years now.
‘I kept quiet didn’t say anything, and I let everyone have their laugh and say what they wanted to say. Yes, now she’s gone to court and admitted the story was made up and did that because her ex husband forced her to, and it was all made up,’ he shared on Instagram, referring to how Vardy said she was ‘forced into a situation’ by her ex in talking to the press.
Andre continued in his video: ‘Put that all aside and think how it feels if a man or if I had said this about her anatomy or if a man said something about a woman’s anatomy, made up something whatever, you can use your imagination about saying something very unflattering, there would be outrage. But because it’s been said about me, it’s been the butt of all jokes, I’ve taken it for 15 years.’
The musician went on: ‘I know some of you are gonna go, ‘get over it, don’t say anything.’ You gotta understand when it goes on and on and being brought up, and even worse it’s been brought up in the High Court and the lawyer is bringing it up having a go at her for bringing up something in News Of The World that went to four million people and then it’s brought up in court that goes to a lot more than four million people, it’s brought up again, and the only one that sits there and takes hit after hit about it is me.’
He added that he’s ‘been laughing about it for a while’ but wants people to consider ‘how it would feel if it was the other way round.’
‘Ok yes, we all know now it was just a made-up story, but it’s a little more serious than that – and I don’t think it’s fair something like this can happen again and again and we talk about all sorts of things, about mental health, about being kind, all that sort of stuff, and nothing seems to have changed. You know, there you go.’
Andre – who shares two children with ex wife Katie Price – also wrote an emotional caption, in which he apologised to wife Emily Andre and his children.
The case, dubbed the ‘Wagatha Christie trial’, comes after a viral social media post in October 2019, where Rooney, 36, said she had carried out a ‘sting operation’ and accused Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.
Vardy denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Rooney – married to former England player Wayne Rooney – is defending the claim on the basis her post was ‘substantially true’ and in the public interest.
The fake stories Rooney planted on her Instagram during the sting operation featured her travelling to Mexico for a ‘gender selection’ procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: ‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.
‘It’s ………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
The trial is expected to last seven days.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Source: Read Full Article
