Rebekah Vardy faces up to £3m legal bill after ‘Wagatha Christie’ defeat to Coleen Rooney

One lawyer suggested she move to a remote island

Rebekah Vardy could be facing enormous legal bills after her crushing libel defeat at the hands of Coleen Rooney. After Judge Justice Steyn ruled in favour of Rooney on Friday, branding Vardy's evidence as "manifestly inconsistent... evasive or implausible", legal experts believe a hefty bill of up to £3m could be on its way to the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy. Rooney accused Vardy of leaking "false stories" to the media in a viral social media post in October 2019, leading to Vardy suing for libel. Speaking to The Sun, Jack Ridgway from the Association of Costs Lawyers said that Vardy, 40, could be required to pay some of Rooney's £1.5m alongside her own expenditures, which are believed to be about the same. "The judge won't necessarily order Mrs Vardy to cover all of it," he told the outlet. "It is, in fact, rare for a winning party to recover all of their legal costs. As a generalisation, winning parties recover about 70 per cent." Ridgway doesn't believe it will be a "quick process." [caption id="attachment_351562" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Via Getty[/caption] Similarly, media lawyer Jonathan Coad described the verdict as an "absolute disaster" for Vardy, dubbing it as "damaging as it could be." Coad argues that as the claimant, Vardy's loss is a bigger hit. Lawyer Mark Stephens said Vardy would be smart to make a "quiet life on a remote island somewhere" after she was branded a gossip. "Because whenever she appears in the media, she is always going to be branded 'gossip Rebekah Vardy', 'betrayer of confidences Rebekah Vardy'," he explained. "Those kinds of epithets are going to live with her for some considerable time". While the legal troubles seem to be in the past, the saga is far from over, as Channel 4 have already commissioned a two-part documentary. Coleen has also signed on with Netflix for a documentary, while Vardy will share her side of the story in a rival doc from the BBC. The Wagatha Christie story is far from over.

Related links:

• Rebekah Vardy loses 'Wagatha Christie' libel case against Coleen Rooney
• Rebekah Vardy 'devastated' over Wagatha Christie verdict in favour of Coleen Rooney
• Wagatha Christie: Wayne Rooney describes 'awkward' moment he asked Jamie Vardy to get his wife to 'calm down'