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- Rooney accompanied by husband Wayne, but Jamie Vardy did not attend
- Vardy’s lawyer denies she leaked information on the Rooneys to the press
https://www.independent.ie-Zoe Tidman, Chiara Giordano and Tom Ambrose
Rebekah Vardy has said she “deeply regrets” sharing details about the “size of Peter Andre’s manhood” with a newspaper.
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, gave evidence at the High Court today in her libel battle against Coleen Rooney over accusations that she leaked “false stories” to the press.
Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne asked Mrs Vardy about an interview she gave to the News Of The World about an alleged sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre, reading out the headline: “Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes.”
Asked whether giving the interview was respectful to Mr Andre, Mrs Vardy said: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this.”
The barrister read excerpts from the article, in which it was claimed Mr Andre had managed “just five minutes of sex with Rebekah” and in which she said he had “the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen” that was like a “miniature chipolata”.
Mr Sherborne suggested to Mrs Vardy that the News Of The World was the “highest circulating newspaper at the time”, read by some four million people.
Rebekah Vardy was asked whether it was “respectful” of Peter Andre’s “right not to share this information” about their sexual encounter with a newspaper.
She replied: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret… It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.”
Asked the question again by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne, Mrs Vardy said: “The circumstances around it were completely different.”
She later said she did not ask Mr Andre for his permission or tell him it was going to happen in advance.