A blockbuster court case centering on who had access to a celebrity’s Instagram Stories will be the subject of a new documentary on Disney+. Wagatha Christie will tell the story of broadcaster Coleen Rooney, who is married to former Manchester United and England football superstar (and current DC United coach) Wayne Rooney. After stories about the Rooney’s life were leaked to the press, stories that were only apparently communicated via private Instagram Stories messages, Coleen opted to do some detective work. After a lengthy winnowing process, Rooney believed that the source of the leaks was Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester and former England star Jamie Vardy.
The case, which has taken on a new and distinct character thanks to social media, was then prompted after Rooney publicly announced that Vardy was the source of the leaks. In a single tweet containing a screenshot essay, Rooney explained how she had narrowed down the options with a series of fake stories targeted at increasingly-small Instagram close friends groups. The disclosure prompted Vardy to sue Rooney for defamation, but Vardy managed to substantially weaken her own case after failing to produce data called for as part of the trial.
(Oh, for those not in the know: WAG is an abbreviation of “Wives and Girlfriends,” a derisory term used to denote the soccer player’s partners, often while playing for the national team. Agatha Christie is the author of a number of famous detective stories, including the Poirot and Miss Marple series. Don’t say the British don’t love a good pun every now and again.)
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