Rebekah Vardy gets a Netflix deal for new documentary
Netflix is set to release a documentary featuring media personality Rebekah Vardy as the five-year legal battle, popularly known as Wagatha Christie, ends. Coleen Rooney sued Vardy for libel. The court case, which started in 2020, concluded in 2024.
The fly-on-the-wall documentary will share the story through Vardy’s lens. It will focus on her and her husband, Jamie Vardy’s journey after the lawsuit and his exit from the Leicester City football club. Coleen Rooney has already shared her side of the story in a Disney+ documentary, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.
It all started in 2019 with a tweet by Rooney accusing Vardy of leaking posts from her private Instagram account to a British tabloid. Soon, in 2020, Vardy filed a case against Rooney for defamation. What began as a beacon of hope for Vardy in the preliminary stages was extinguished when things began to turn in Rooney’s favour. The judge found Rooney to be speaking the truth.
Vardy was ordered to pay Rooney’s legal costs along with her own, each of which amounted to approximately £1.4million. Netflix is said to be giving Vardy an over £1m payday. The filming process already seemed to have commenced. Vardy was seen with a filming crew in a pub in Nottingham watching her husband play.
The documentary will focus primarily on their domestic life after the major changes that have impacted the Vardys. It will follow a similar format to the 2023 David Beckham documentary, which followed the footballer as he shared his life’s journey. It received a positive reception, especially the glimpse into his domestic life with his wife, Victoria Beckham, pushing Netflix to consider another documentary like it.
The Wagatha Christie case has been extensively covered in pop culture and media before. It even saw a stage adaptation with a verbatim dramatisation titled Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial. This drama was even nominated for the Noël Coward Olivier Award in 2024. Channel 4 adapted it into a television dramatisation in 2022. A Discovery+ documentary was also released in 2022.
After the legal battle is resolved, the Netflix documentary will be of significant financial importance to the Vardys. It will also help them rebuild their tarnished image in the public eye after Rebekah faced a humiliating defeat.