Television
The world will fall in love with Coleen Rooney, Wagatha Christie producer says
1 year ago
The documentary producer said her ‘jaw was on the floor’ after Coleen Rooney described her feud with Rebekah Vardy.
The executive producer of an upcoming documentary on the Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy feud said “her jaw was on the floor” after learning what the footballer’s wife was put through.
Julia Nottingham, who is leading production in the series Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, described working alongside Mrs Rooney and is convinced it will tell a different story about her dispute with Mrs Vardy.
In 2019 Mrs Rooney outed Mrs Vardy on social media for leaking posts from her private Instagram to the press.
In 2020 Mrs Vardy sued Mrs Rooney for libel, and in 2022 the High Court ruled that Mrs Rooney’s statements were “substantially true”, dismissing Mrs Vardy’s claims.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) on Wednesday, Ms Nottingham described meeting Mrs Rooney for the first time.
She said she told her “I’m not coming here with any pitch. I just want to listen, you know, what do you want to say? What do you think of documentaries?”
And Ms Nottingham said Mrs Rooney told her “I’ve never said a word. I just want to say everything. I want it to be in my words”.
Ms Nottingham added: “And I think we sat together for five hours, you know, talked through everything and my jaw was on the floor.
“And you know, that was a couple of years ago now. And that was before she knew she was going to trial. So it was a very long kind of relationship-building process.”
She added: “I really think the world is going to fall in love with Coleen.”
In a clip from the documentary shown to the EICC, Mrs Rooney says: “When I put that post up I didn’t in a million years think I would be in a court case.
“I had to message her back saying what the f*** is this?
“I just wanted the leaks to stop. It was so sneaky – it was cheeky.”
Mrs Rooney says in the three-part documentary that she has been pursued by paparazzi.
She also says that while she did not agree with the level of harassment Mrs Vardy faced following the revelations, she “sticks by” her words.