Coleen Rooney And Rebekah Vardy Are Twitter's Latest Obsession. Here's Why.
The wives of two England national soccer team stars set Twitter alight Wednesday morning, with accusations flying about fake stories being sold to a British tabloid newspaper.
Coleen Rooney — the wife of ex-Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney (who currently plays for MLS side D.C. United) — claimed an account used by Rebekah Vardy — the wife of current Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy — was being used to pass details about her private life to The Sun.
Rooney, part of the England wives and girlfriends group that infamously took over the German resort of Baden-Baden during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, described on Twitter the elaborate Instagram sting operation she said she conducted to sleuth out the connection:
This has been a burden in my life for a few years now and finally I have got to the bottom of it...... pic.twitter.com/0YqJAoXuK1
— Coleen Rooney (@ColeenRoo) October 9, 2019
Vardy denied responsibility for the leaks, claiming “various people” have access to her Instagram account. She told Rooney she never speaks “to anyone about you as various journalists who have asked me to over the years can vouch for.”
Check out Vardy’s full response here:
@ColeenRoo pic.twitter.com/VkhkkIa6nh
— Rebekah Vardy (@RebekahVardy) October 9, 2019
“I liked you a lot Coleen & I’m so upset you have chosen to do this, especially when I’m heavily pregnant,” Vardy wrote. “I’m disgusted that I’m even having to deny this.”
The Sun appeared to have removed the three stories that Rooney referenced in her post from its website, but then restored them with a note: “On Wednesday October 9th, Coleen Rooney said that she made this story up in an effort to find out who was leaking to the Press.”
The Rooney-Vardy exchange immediately trended on Twitter, where even online video streaming service Netflix snarkily chimed in:
we're going to have to make a documentary about this, aren't we
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) October 9, 2019
the pulitzer prize for investigative reporting goes to coleen rooney https://t.co/fTA5FW2syf
— Anna Cafolla (@AnnaCafolla) October 9, 2019
Put Coleen Rooney on Brexit next
— Lizzie O'Leary (@lizzieohreally) October 9, 2019
Coleen, holding UK productivity up with one hand, while the rest of us sit stock still, desperately refreshing her Twitter.
— Bella Mackie (@bellamackie) October 9, 2019
Coleen Rooney right after she said “it’s......Rebekah Vardy’s account”. pic.twitter.com/d0bWvh1hc6
— JD (@Jonny_Dodds) October 9, 2019
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, WAG #ColeenRooney pic.twitter.com/hhjOCeA1pN
— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) October 9, 2019
She gotta change her name to COLEEN R👀NEY
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) October 9, 2019
Coleen Rooney is the new James Bond. This is outstanding work! https://t.co/nVUFrIs9fr
— Allie Mac Kay (@alliemackay) October 9, 2019
BREAKING: Scarlett Johansson to play Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy in “Instagram take down”. pic.twitter.com/kP74nUQ5ir
— Furquan Akhtar (@furquan) October 9, 2019
Please can we have a Coleen Rooney vs. Rebekah Vardy commemorative 50p coin
— Ellie Mae O'Hagan 🏴 (@MissEllieMae) October 9, 2019
BREAKING: Prorogation of Parliament cancelled in order to sort out the biggest post-war crisis the UK has known: Coleen Rooney vs Rebekah Vardy.
— Have I Got News For You (@haveigotnews) October 9, 2019
Is Wayne Rooney still moving to Derby, or was that just Coleen having Rebekah Vardy on and it's gone too far?
— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) October 9, 2019
Literally everyone after reading the words 'It was Rebekah Vardy' on the Colleen Rooney post pic.twitter.com/RosPPyvBDz
— Andy Wells (@MrAndyboy) October 9, 2019
I’m only dimly aware of football or Coleen Rooney, and I’d never heard the name Rebekah Vardy before ten minutes ago. Now I live for their drama. It’s been a while since we had a good Twitter live soap 🧼
— Alex von Tunzelmann (@alexvtunzelmann) October 9, 2019
This tweet is more satisfying than the conclusion of Game of Thrones. https://t.co/Z3tS9hjAqn
— michael blackmon (@blackmon) October 9, 2019
Going as 'It's ..........Rebekah Vardy's account' for Halloween
— Jen Crothers (@jenofcroths) October 9, 2019
Even *we* can't write this kind of drama. https://t.co/rbwz5x9yAg
— Roy of the Rovers (@royoftherovers) October 9, 2019
WAGatha Christie. I'm crying. https://t.co/qNBhXvANPH
— Amy Ross (@Amyloaf) October 9, 2019
brb just going into every single bookshop and adding "it's........... rebekah vardy's account" to the ending of every single novel they have in stock
— a scary ghost (@beccadeltest) October 9, 2019
oh man, this is like a Le Carré novel https://t.co/IcMPjnMIXJ
— Tom Chivers (@TomChivers) October 9, 2019
It's...... Rebekah Vardy pic.twitter.com/OckJO9C2hF
— Adam (@TeamRivers) October 9, 2019
I've seen episodes of Columbo that don't have as good a reveal as this. And I really like Columbo. https://t.co/fmUfcDryX9
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) October 9, 2019
Rebekah Vardy's account pic.twitter.com/fcsU9sdbAr
— Joe Anderton (Hangry Mode) (@JoeAndertweet) October 9, 2019
0 - Despite spending four hours & 22 minutes together on the pitch for England in total, Jamie Vardy and Wayne Rooney never created a single goalscoring chance for one another. Awkward. pic.twitter.com/qS4H1G93nN
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 9, 2019
99% of the time, Twitter is a cesspool of bad. Moments like this, and the chaos it has triggered, are what redeems it. https://t.co/jkSNTL4QYa
— Prashant Rao (@prashantrao) October 9, 2019
Hire Coleen Rooney @GCHQhttps://t.co/z0EqNgBMHK
— Zing Tsjeng (@misszing) October 9, 2019
— It's............. Mister Woodo's account. (@Mister_Woodo) October 9, 2019
I will vote for any political party who agree to immediately give us the rest of the day off so we can follow this Coleen Rooney/Rebekah Vardy thing properly.
— Richard Osman (@richardosman) October 9, 2019
Wayne Rooney, 33, represented the England national team in 120 games, scoring 53 goals, before his retirement from international soccer in 2017. He will leave D.C. United in January 2020 to take a player-coach role at Derby Country.
Jamie Vardy, 32, formed a key part of the Leicester side that stunned the sports world to win the English Premier League title in 2016.
The pair represented England together at the 2016 European Championship tournament, when the team’s manager Roy Hodgson was forced to deny there had been a spat between the two following reports Rooney was angry at the rising profile of his colleague’s wife.
Rebekah Vardy, meanwhile, caused controversy in 2017 with her stint on British reality TV show “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here,” during which she faced accusations of bullying a fellow contestant.
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