Nicola McLean claims 'every celebrity sells stories'

‘If she DID leak that Coleen’s basement was flooded, is it THAT big a deal?’: Nicola McLean claims ‘every celebrity sells stories’ and says hate towards Rebekah Vardy ‘needs to stop’ after WAG lost £3m libel case to Rooney

Nicola McLean has claimed ‘every celebrity sells stories’ and says the only hate towards her pal Rebekah Vardy ‘needs to stop’.

Rebekah’s reputation has been left in tatters after losing her £3million libel case to Coleen Rooney on Friday.  

Reality star Nicola, 40, appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on Thursday and told Channel 5 viewers if Rebekah did leak stories then it isn’t a big deal. 

Speaking out: Nicola McLean has claimed ‘every celebrity sells stories’ and says the only hate towards her pal Rebekah Vardy ‘needs to stop’

Speaking to host Dawn Neesom, Nicola said: ‘I mean let’s say Rebekah did leak stories and she said she didn’t but let’s say she did. If she leaked the fact that Coleen’s basement was flooded, really is it that big a deal.

‘Every celebrity sells stories, that’s how you make your front covers, like I don’t understand why everyone is up in arms about it.

‘If you have sold stories you cannot sit their and slag Rebekah Vardy off. She says she didn’t even sell the stories.

Trial: Rebekah’s reputation has been left in tatters after losing her £3million libel case to Coleen Rooney on Friday

Speaking on the Vardy family receiving death threats, Nicola said: ‘The trolling is horrific. I don’t even like using the world troll because it’s not trolling, it’s online abuse.

‘She’s had messages online saying people want to r*pe her daughter. When she was pregnant and Coleen tweeted what she tweeted they said they hope her unborn baby dies.

‘Am I worried about her? No. She’s strong, her marriage is strong, her and Jamie have a fantastic life together. She is a good mother, she’ll be fine but the online abuse needs to stop.’

Pals: Reality star Nicola, 40, appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on Thursday and told Channel 5 viewers if Rebekah did leak stories then it isn’t a big deal (pictured with Rebekah in March 2018)

‘I was actually chatting to her on the way here, just messages, I mean I get on really well with Rebekah.

‘I didn’t watch last night because I was at an event, I didn’t comment or mention it to her, but yeah why shouldn’t she earn money. I’ve earned money from this case, I’ve been booked for TV jobs to talk about it.

‘Rebekah is strong. I see loads of news outlets saying “oh is she going to go lick her wounds”, definitely not that is not Rebekah Vardy. 

‘She is upset at the judgment, she feels like she’s been let down, she feels like she’s been treated horrifically which I would agree.

Trial: Rebekah, wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie, was told her evidence was ‘evasive and implausible; and was accused of deliberately deleting WhatsApp messages central to the case (pictured in July 2022)

Vardy, wife of Leicester City footballer Jamie, was told her evidence was ‘evasive and implausible; and was accused of deliberately deleting WhatsApp messages central to the case.

She said she was ‘extremely sad and disappointed at the decision’ last week, adding that it was ‘not the result that I had expected’.

It comes as Vardy’s efforts to restore her reputation may include a documentary, a biography and two retail campaigns.

Sources close to Vardy hope a bidding war will break out among production companies, five of which are said to be interested, to create a documentary on the infamous case.

Bidders are expected to offer between £50,000 and £250,000 for her involvement, The Times reports.

Streaming giants Netflix, Amazon and Disney are already believed to be battling it out to broadcast Rooney’s side of the legal battle made by Lorton Entertainment – the same company responsible for the feature film on Wayne.

A source close to Coleen said she could be in line for ‘several million pounds’ for her participation.   

Money: Streaming giants Netflix, Amazon and Disney are already believed to be battling it out to broadcast Coleen’s side of the legal battle made by Lorton Entertainment (pictured with her husband Wayne in May 2022)

Wagatha Christie timeline: How Coleen and Rebekah’s long-running, vicious war unfolded before the eyes of the world 

September 2017 to October 2019 – The Sun runs a number of articles about Coleen, including that she travelled to Mexico to look into baby ‘gender selection’ treatment, her plan to revive her TV career and the flooding of her basement.

October 9, 2019 – Coleen uses social media to accuse Rebekah of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids.

Coleen says she spent five months attempting to work out who was sharing information about her and her family based on posts she had made on her personal social media page.

After sharing a series of ‘false’ stories and using a process of elimination, Coleen claims they were viewed by one Instagram account, belonging to Rebekah.

Rebekah, then pregnant with her fifth child, denies the allegations and says various people had access to her Instagram over the years.

She claims to be ‘so upset’ by Coleen’s accusation, later adding: ‘I thought she was my friend but she completely annihilated me.’

The public dispute makes headlines around the world, with the hashtag #WagathaChristie trending.

February 13, 2020 – In a tearful appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Rebekah says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she ‘ended up in hospital three times’. Coleen says in a statement that she does not want to ‘engage in further public debate’.

June 23, 2020 – It emerges that Rebekah has launched libel proceedings against Coleen.

Rebekah’s lawyers allege she ‘suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment as a result of the publication of the post and the events which followed’.

November 19-20, 2020 – The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London. A judge rules that Coleen’s October 2019 post ‘clearly identified’ Rebekah as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’.

Mr Justice Warby concludes that the ‘natural and ordinary’ meaning of the posts was that Rebekah had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Coleen’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun of Coleen’s private posts and stories’.

February 8-9, 2022 – A series of explosive messages between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt – which Coleen’s lawyers allege were about her – are revealed at a preliminary court hearing.

The court is told Rebekah was not referring to Coleen when she called someone a ‘nasty bitch’ in one exchange with Ms Watt.

Coleen’s lawyers seek further information from the WhatsApp messages, but the court is told that Ms Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, before further information could be extracted from it.

February 14 – Coleen is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle. A High Court judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, says the bid was brought too late and previous opportunities to make the claim had not been taken.

April 13 – Ms Watt is not fit to give oral evidence at the upcoming libel trial, the High Court is told as the case returns for another hearing.

The agent revokes permission for her witness statement to be used, and withdraws her waiver which would have allowed Sun journalists to say whether she was a source of the allegedly leaked stories.

April 29 – Rebekah ‘appears to accept’ that her agent was the source of allegedly leaked stories, Coleen’s barrister David Sherborne tells the High Court. He argues that a new witness statement submitted by Rebekah suggests Ms Watt was the source but Rebekah claims she ‘did not authorise or condone her’.

Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson says the statement did not contain ‘any change whatever in the pleaded case’, with her legal team having no communication with Ms Watt.

Source: Read Full Article