Rebekah Vardys Show: Insiders Fear Fallout

For someone as publicity-seeking as , the offer of a TV show setting out her lavish life in full, fly-on-the wall documentary style was far too tantalising to turn down.

She has, after all, got scores to settle.

After the blistering public battle with her rival – which ended with her humiliating defeat in the High Court – now she’s back for round two.

Along with footballer husband Jamie and their five children, Rebekah, 44, is starring in a new reality show, The Vardys, which will air on ITV1 and ITVX tomorrow.

The three-parter follows the family as they uproot from their home in Lincolnshire (where Jamie was playing for Leicester City) to , where her striker husband joins Cremonese to help them fight for survival in the Serie A league.

The show has been acerbically described by TV insiders as a ‘ version’ of Coleen’s forthcoming Disney+ series, The Rooneys, which is currently in production.

For aside from all the drama surrounding international house moves, family crises and the search for new schools, it’s clear from The Vardys that Coleen is still very much at the forefront of Rebekah’s mind.

‘Just look at the name of her show!’ says a source. ‘Coleen’s show was confirmed as being called The Rooneys before Rebekah’s was finalised, so her choice of name is obvious.

‘It’s like Coleen has been staying rent‑free in Rebekah’s head for the past four years, even when she’s been living an idyllic life in Italy. It’s so clear what she has done.’

Indeed, friends of Rebekah’s say she is still struggling with the humiliation of losing to Coleen when their epic legal battle ended in 2022. Rebekah had been accused by Coleen of leaking stories about her private life with husband Wayne Rooney to a red-top newspaper in 2019.

Rebekah sued Coleen for libel after she publicly named Vardy’s Instagram account as the source of the leaks on social media. A move that led to Mrs Rooney being dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ during the seven-day trial.

In her judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Coleen’s accusations against Rebekah were ‘substantially true’ and rubbed yet more salt in her rival’s wounds by ordering her to pay £1.19million of her legal bill.

Yet far from using the ‘rival’ programme as a platform for quiet, contemplative reflection (and a chance to recoup some of that cash), Rebekah appears as defiant as ever, vowing never to apologise and certainly not admit any guilt.

‘I’m living with the judgment the judge made but, still to this day, I believe she was wrong,’ Rebekah rants in the show.

‘People constantly go: “Well, it’s not going to change anything unless you apologise.” But I’m not apologising for something I didn’t do... it’s never going to happen. Hell will freeze over before I do that.’ 

And if that isn’t enough proof Rebekah has yet to move on, I’m told that she had ‘really hoped’ that being back on television might give her the opportunity to achieve another goal – appearing on the cover of Vogue magazine just as Coleen did in 2023.

'Becky has long dreamed of appearing on the front of Vogue,’ says an associate of hers. ‘She knows her worth and she knows the level of interest in her.’

However, sources at the publication say: ‘She didn’t get the chance this time round either. Maybe it’s a bit snobby of Vogue, but either way, the fact that Coleen has been a Vogue cover girl hasn’t gone unnoticed.’

Nor indeed have further comparisons with the Rooneys’ upcoming show.

ITV chiefs are understood to have paid a ‘relatively modest’ fee to the Vardys for their involvement – the series ‘was not a priority’ for them, I’m told.

By contrast the Rooneys’ deal with Disney+ was said to have cost £10million; while at just three episodes, Vardy’s programme is dwarfed by Coleen’s ten-parter. The only solace Rebekah has managed to take is that her show was released first.

But as she rakes up the past, those dragged into the Wagatha case are dreading the thought of it hitting the headlines again. I’m told many close associates were ‘thrown under the bus’ during the trial.

At the forefront of this group is Caroline Watt, Rebekah’s loyal and long-serving manager, who accompanied her to the National Television Awards in 2019 at London’s O2 arena.

The women were once said to be as ‘thick as thieves’ and would regularly swap messages – some nasty and abhorrent, especially about Coleen.

In one vile exchange, Rebekah called Coleen a ‘c***’ and ‘stupid cow’. A damning and infamous part of the evidence at the High Court was how Caroline’s iPhone ended up in the North Sea during a family boat trip. As a result lawyers were unable to use it during the case. 

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Steyn said it was ‘likely’ that Caroline had passed information to The Sun newspaper and said that Rebekah ‘knew of and condoned the behaviour’.