Twitter spat between footballers' wives Rooney and Vardy grips the UK
A row between the wives of two top English footballers has gone viral after one accused the other of leaking stories about her to a tabloid newspaper.
Coleen Rooney, wife of England and Manchester United’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney, said she turned sleuth to solve the mystery of who was sharing her personal information with The Sun.
In a Twitter post that made plenty of headlines of its own on Wednesday, Rooney pointed the finger of guilt at Rebekah Vardy, whose husband Jamie Vardy used to play for England with Wayne Rooney. Rebekah Vardy quickly denied she was to blame.
In a Twitter post, Rooney wrote that she had suspected a follower of her personal Instagram account had been consistently informing The Sun of her private posts and stories.
Rooney, who has 1.3 million followers on Twitter, said she blocked everyone from viewing her Instagram stories except one person. She then posted a series of false stories to see whether they leaked out, which she said they had.
“I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them,” she said.
She added: “It’s...Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Rooney’s post was retweeted tens of thousands of times with more than 177,000 likes.
Denying any responsibility for the leaks to The Sun, Vardy suggested others had accessed her account.
She tweeted: “If you thought this was happening you could have told me & I could have changed my passwords to see if it stopped.
“Over the years various people have had access to my insta & just this week I found I was following people I didn’t know and have never followed myself.”
The former star of British TV reality show “I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!” added: “I’m not being funny but I don’t need the money, what would I gain from selling stories on you?”
Vardy, 37, who is pregnant with her fifth child, added: “I never speak to anyone about you (Rooney) as various journalists who have asked me to over the years can vouch for."
She said she was “so upset” that Rooney had made the accusation, adding: “I’m disgusted that I’m even having to deny this.
“You should have called me the first time this happened.”
The Sun said each of the stories provided to the newspaper was put to Rooney’s representatives before publication, and on each occasion they declined to comment.
“Like all reputable media organisations, we don’t comment on sources,” The Sun said.
The hashtag #WAGatha Christie, an amalgam of the late crime fiction writer Agatha Christie and the media’s acronym for footballers’ wives and girlfriends (WAG), was also trending.
Streaming service Netflix appeared to make a joke about the spat, tweeting: “We’re going to have to make a documentary about this, aren’t we.” – AFP, REUTERS
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