Coleen Rooney expects ’emotional’ night at Wagatha documentary screening

By Eleanor Barlow, PA

Coleen Rooney said she was expecting an “emotional” night as she gathered with friends and family for a screening of her Wagatha documentary.

Rooney was accompanied by her football manager husband Wayne and eldest son Kai, 13, for the screening of Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story at the Everyman cinema in Liverpool on Wednesday.

Rooney’s parents Colette and Tony McLoughlin and other family members attended the screening along with footballers including Phil Jones and Jordan Pickford.

Rooney said: “I’m so excited. I think it will be emotional because there are some emotional things in there.

“Obviously I’ve watched it so I think I will be a bit nervous of what’s going on around me and their thoughts on it but hopefully they all enjoy it.”

The three-part series tells the story behind the social media post in which Rooney claimed that Rebekah Vardy was the source behind three “false” stories in The Sun featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram stories to figure out who was leaking the information.

Vardy, wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy, sued Rooney for libel but lost the High Court battle after the judge found Rooney’s claims to be “substantially true”.

Asked whether she hoped Vardy watched the show, Rooney said: “That’s up to her.”

The mother-of-four said the decision to film the documentary, which was released on Disney+ on Wednesday, was not an “easy” one.

She said: “I feel like now it’s time to tell my truth and my story.”

She added: “I feel like a massive cloud’s been lifted.

“There was some really low points that I went through and I feel now I can breathe, I can move on with my life.”

The 37-year-old said she had a book due to come out in November and then hoped to move forward.

She added: “Hopefully by Christmas I’m going to relax and have some time with the family.”

Director Lucy Bird said she wanted the programme to get into Rooney’s “headspace” and “bring the viewer with her”.

She said: “Without trivialising her experience, it’s a bit of a thriller, and that’s why everyone called her Wagatha Christie.

“I wanted everyone to understand why she did what she did, and I hope the series does show that a bit.

“She is quite a special person and her experience in life led her to do this thing in that particular way.

“Also, I wanted to show the process in quite a lot of forensic detail and make a murder-mystery.”