Vardy

Jamie Vardy had left Cremonese after one season with them relegated from Serie A and his time in Italy a struggle for the family in terms of finding schools and home comfort foods.

Pensive Rebekah Vardy admits the future for her family is up in the air after their return from Italy – as her husband weighs up where to play football next.

The Mirror told yesterday how Jamie Vardy had left Cremonese after one season with them relegated from Serie A and his time in Italy a struggle for the family in terms of finding schools and home comfort foods.

On their future she joked: “Is there ever a f**king plan?” Before she went on to say she did not see Jamie returning to Leicester City. Other reports suggest he could join Sheffield Wednesday or go to play in the Netherlands or even return to the Premier League.

In an interview with the Times to promote their new ITV reality series about their time in Italy, Rebekah spoke of her public persona after losing the Agatha Christie trial against Coleen Rooney.

She said: “I accept that I am very Marmite. I’ve been portrayed as a villain since I met Jamie — they called me a gold-digger and said I’d leave when his football career ended — and to an extent I’ve played up to being that villain.

“I don’t do emotions; that’s genuine. Someone once said I have a ‘resting bitch face’ and I ran with it. It gets me into trouble because my face doesn’t portray the feelings I have inside. I am not a bitch. I find it hard to show vulnerability because of my childhood [Vardy’s family were Jehovah’s Witnesses], and the church forces you to suppress how you feel.

“That cycle is hard to break. So yes, I do come across as cold, but when you look at the bigger picture there’s a reason. At the same time, I am not a victim. I will not play the victim card.”

She also says abuse from trolls and losing the court case against Coleen, leaving her with legal bills of millions of pounds, have taken their toll in the past.

Rebekah added: “There were times when I questioned the point of existing. I didn’t want to be here any more. It was a horrendous time. What got me through was the life we have together and our children. Always the kids. They are our world.”

ITV will next week profile the family’s time in Italy in three-part series The Vardys. The new ITV documentary was supposed to celebrate a great new chapter in their life.

But instead the cameras show Rebecca struggling to find accommodation and schools for their children; Olivia, six, Finley, nine, Sofia 12, Taylor 16.

It was not the Italian dream they hoped for and lasted less time than expected. Once positive is Rebekah will get Jamie at home this Summer as at 39 he is too old to make it into the England squad.

And she insists she won’t miss not being at the World Cup. She said: “It’s actually quite lonely. You go to support your husband or boyfriend but you don’t get to be near them very much. And Russia was terrifying. It was not an easy place to be.”

* The Vardys airs at 9pm on Tuesday June 2nd on ITV1 & ITVX. All three episodes will be immediately available to stream as a boxset online.

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REBEKAH Vardy insists that “hell will freeze over” before she ever apologises to former pal Coleen Rooney over their Wagatha Christie row.

The wife of footie star Jamie said she must live with her libel loss to Wayne Rooney’s missus.

But Becky, 44 — accused of leaking stories about Coleen — said: “I’m never going to apologise for something I didn’t do. Hell will freeze over before I do that.”

Rebekah says her Wagatha Christie beef with Coleen is “done, it’s over” — and does not care what her ex-pal thinks about her.

The wife of former Leicester striker Jamie insists her own “peace” is more important amid the fallout to their legal battle.

In new ITV reality show The Vardys, she admits to still suffering from a public backlash after losing her libel case against Wayne Rooney’s missus.
Becky, 44, had taken legal action after Coleen claimed stories about her were leaked from her Instagram account.

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And she says: “I’m living with the judgment the judge made but, still to this day, I believe she was wrong.”

The mum of five goes on: “People constantly go, ‘Well, it’s not going to change anything unless you apologise’ — but I’m not apologising for something I didn’t do. Like never, ever, going to apologise for something I didn’t do — it’s never going to happen. Hell will freeze over before I do that.

“It’s over, it’s done, I’m not going to carry on living in the past. I’m so f***ing bored of it.”

The Sun revealed last year that the Vardys had signed a deal for a tell-all reality series, and the cameras followed them as Jamie, 39, left Leicester for Italian Serie A minnows Cremonese.

But before Becky packed her bags, she opened up about the High Court battle which finally ended last May, when she was ordered to pay Coleen’s legal fees of around £1.2million.

She says: “I don’t have any negative feelings towards her whatsoever. Some people might go, ‘That’s bull’, but whatever, that’s your opinion. If I ever saw her or bump into her, people will assume it’ll be like handbags at dawn, or ‘Birkins at dawn’, whatever they want to say. ‘Wag War 4’. I’ve forgotten how many headlines have been ‘Wag War’, but my peace is too important.”

She adds of her one-time friend: “I’ve got no idea what she thinks of me, but I’m not bothered.”

Becky was heavily pregnant when Coleen publicly revealed in 2019 she had turned detective to find out who was leaking stories about her.

Becky’s Prem-winning hubby has stayed silent on it, until now.

He says: “Becky’s a strong woman. If she wasn’t, it would definitely have broken her 100 per cent. But that’s not her.”

He adds: “People thinking that Bex was a villain, it’s just a load of s but everyone close to her knows, that’s all she needs. It was really tough seeing Bex in pain, obviously with all the crap coming her way. As a husband, the only thing you can do is be there for her.”

The couple celebrate their tenth anniversary today — and their close bond is evident during The Vardys’ opening episode.

Whether it’s playfighting in their home gym, Jamie’s disdain for her “banana breath” or Becky’s utter bewilderment at how “chilled out” her husband is, they are perfect reality TV material.

Becky says: “We have five kids, but if you include Jamie in that, we have six.”

Jamie is seen telling his young children about him leaving Leicester after 13 years.

But the transfer was far from straightforward — as he was initially bound for a Dutch club.

Becky rants: “The last 24 hours has been a total s*** show. Yesterday morning we were all on holiday in Portugal, chilling, rosé, life couldn’t get any better. And then Jamie tells me, ‘I’m going to sign for a Dutch team.’ I ask him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he seems pretty sure at that point.

“So I thought, ‘OK, that’s fine then, we’re going to Holland’ and literally, just as we’re boarding a flight home from Portugal, he changed his mind — standard Jamie.

“We landed back in the UK at 3pm, dropped the kids off, went straight back to the airport and back out on a flight to Italy.”

• The Vardys starts on ITV, June 2, 9pm, with all episodes on ITVX.

Vardy was released by his boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday for being too small, but the documentary unearths footage of his blistering goalscoring form in his Stocksbridge days while also working in a factory making medical splints.

However, in the first of a series of problems in 2007, Vardy admits in the documentary he had “no stability” in his life. He had been convicted of assault when out drinking and had to wear an ankle tag for six months.

He also had a 6pm curfew which meant he had to leave matches early.

Moves to Halifax Town – where Vardy met his long‑time agent John Morris – and later Fleetwood Town followed, before his £1m move to then‑Championship club Leicester City.

Woven throughout are “The Inbetweeners” – a nickname given to Vardy’s small, all‑male social group from Sheffield – who act as his main support, alongside his wife.

“If one of us is having a problem, then get it in the group. Might get abused for a bit but at least it’s us lot keeping an eye on each other,” Vardy says.

They were needed, as former Foxes midfielder Andy King says Vardy experienced an initial “culture shock” at Leicester, where the striker admits he initially felt not good enough.

Physiotherapist Dave Rennie also corroborates accounts of Vardy’s struggles with alcohol, worsened by the pressure of the move, including “manufacturing his own Skittles vodka at home”.

Vardy would arrive at training hungover and, on one occasion, uncontactable to his then-pregnant Rebekah, or Becky as he affectionately calls her.

There was a feeling he was going to throw away his career, but the work of a “good psychologist”, the patience of manager Nigel Pearson and his own efforts to grow up after the birth of his daughter Ella kept him going.

Fame still brought further problems. A 2015 Sun on Sunday story showed him on video using a racial slur against a Japanese man in a casino.

He later described it as “a massive, massive learning curve”, explaining he was never taught which terms he could and could not use.

The film also highlights “one of the harder things” Vardy experienced when he rushed home from a team‑bonding trip to Helsinki after being told a tabloid was publishing a story about his secret biological father, who he had no prior knowledge of.

Still, Vardy became the poster boy and top scorer for Leicester’s Premier League title‑winning campaign in 2015‑16, went on to lift the FA Cup and fulfilled his agent’s prediction, made when he signed for Halifax, that he would one day play for England.

Asked whether he could have achieved more internationally after retiring from England in 2018, Vardy replied: “Possibly. We’ll never know.

“I’ll be honest, going away with England is unbelievable – you want to play for your country – but the mental side of it was tough. That changed when Gareth [Southgate] came in, but before that you were stuck in your room all day.

“You trained and then you were just back in your hotel room, pulling your hair out. There’s only so much time you can spend on a PlayStation or speaking to the kids on video calls. You’ve already not seen them and now you’re getting pulled away for another two weeks. It’s tough.

“At the time, after the World Cup, I just wanted to protect [my legs] as much as possible, prolong my club career, and as I’m still going now, it was obviously the right decision.”