We’ve barely been able to drag our eyes away from Twitter this week as the Wagatha Christie libel trial between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney has continued at London’s High Court. Every day another unexpected showbiz cameo in the saga is revealed and, on Thursday, Gemma Collins was used as an alibi.
Yup, that’s right. Gemma Collins of TOWIE, Celeb Big Brother and ‘kiss my designer vagina’ fame is somehow mixed up in The Scousetrap. But what did she do? And why is Rebekah Vardy talking about her under oath? Here’s everything you need to know.
How is Gemma Collins involved in the Wagatha Christie trial?
Rebekah Vardy is suing Coleen Rooney for libel because Rooney publicly claimed she had been leaking stories about her to the press after a lengthy sleuthing operation that earned her the nickname Wagatha Christie.
In court, Rooney’s lawyer has been attempting to prove that Rooney’s claims were ‘substantially true’ and to do so has been reading out Vardy’s messages between her and her agent Caroline Watt.
During these message exchanges, Watt admitted she’d leaked a story about Rooney’s car crash to the Sun in 2019, writing: ‘It wasn't someone she trusted. It was me.'
When Vardy was asked why she didn’t challenge her agent on her behaviour, she said she was too ‘distracted’ to reply. First by giving her children a bath and later by an episode of Dancing On Ice.
This is where Gemma comes in. Because, on January 27, 2019 (the day the messages were sent) Collins gifted us one of the most memeable moments of the year: her Dancing On Ice faceplant.
Yes, who could forget. As she confidently glided across the ice with her partner Matt Evers to Celine Dion’s power ballad It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, Collins lifted her arms and lost her balance to smack face down on the ice.
The internet erupted. ‘Gemma Collins is actually a walking meme,’ wrote one person on Twitter. ‘I think I’ve already watched [that clip] about 100 times,’ added another. So, it’s safe to say we were all distracted by the tumble—including, apparently, Rebekah Vardy.
But Rooney’s lawyer has alleged that, even if Vardy was distracted, there was still some cover-up work done by Vardy to throw Rooney off the scent of the culprit. ‘That is so bad! And The Sun of all people as well!’ Vardy wrote to Rooney in a private message. ‘Have you been through all your followers? No one with any celeb mag links? What about being hacked? I would be chomping if that was me! Not on at all.’