"I ended up in hospital." Rebekah Vardy on the fallout from her feud with Coleen Rooney.

You remember the whole Rebekah Vardy/Coleen Rooney kerfuffle, right? It was one of the most-talked-about tabloid stories of 2019. So big, in fact, that when the news broke in October it was attracting more Google searches than Brexit.

Here’s the gist: Rooney, an author/TV personality and wife of former England captain Wayne Rooney, set an elaborate social media trap to flush out the source of tabloid leaks about her private life.

“I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram stories except ONE account,” she wrote in a now-infamous Twitter statement. “Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!”

The source? [Pause for effect]

“It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

And, whoomp, there it was. Tabloids went nuts. Social media lit up; the women’s names were trending, people started referring to Rooney as #WagethaChristie, and Netflix even joked about making a documentary.

But four months on from the whole ordeal, Vardy — who has repeatedly denied Rooney’s accusations — has shared what it was like to be on the receiving end of the whole sensational ordeal. And in fact, ordeal sounds like somewhat of an understatement…

In an interview on British chat show, Loose Women, the mother of four said she was hospitalised three times in the midst of the very public fallout, which occurred when she was seven months pregnant.

Watch: Rebekah shares the worst trolling she copped over the Coleen Rooney saga.

“The trolling was the worst part for me and my family,” she said. “I have been trolled before and I do get it all the time, but it kind of escalated of the back of this… This was a whole new level.

“I had people messaging me, saying nasty stuff … one in particular: ‘You fat, ugly rat, I really hope you and your baby rot’.

“I ended up with severe anxiety attacks, I ended up in hospital three times and I ended up with kidney stones.”

Vardy also said trolls targeted her 15-year-old daughter, who is from a previous relationship.

“There were people finding out what her Instagram was and sending her horrible messages. And I think it’s hard for the kids, because you can only say to them ‘don’t read it, not everyone likes you, not everyone’s going to be your friend and that’s ok’, but to actually get that across to a 15-year-old is very difficult, because they do read stuff… You can only protect them to a certain extent.

“She found it very difficult. We all did.”

 

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Can’t believe I’m even having to write this. I’m pregnant & on holiday & am at a loss to why she would do this. I’m now having to take legal advice as I can’t deal with this stress myself when I’m this pregnant.

A post shared by Becky Vardy (@beckyvardy) on Oct 9, 2019 at 3:07am PDT

Vardy previously told The Daily Mail that she suspected someone else may have used her account to provide the leaks. She said she has given her Instagram login details to several people who help manage her public profile, and vowed to find the “mole” responsible.

“Over the last few years, quite a few people have had access to my Instagram account, including a PR agency and an advertising agency. And, yes, I have given my password out. It is considered a normal thing to do and I never thought very hard about it,” she said.

Vardy also shared that she phoned Rooney shortly after the allegations were posted to social media.

“I said to her ‘Coleen, what on earth have you done?’” Rebekah told the publication. “It was not an easy phone call.

“She said to me: ‘I’m not pointing the finger’ and I said, ‘You have just annihilated me in public and hung me out to dry. The whole world hates me!’”

Featured image: Getty and ITV.