The moment Rebekah Vardy first told me about Peter Andre’s chipolata

WE had been chatting and laughing for half  an hour when I asked Rebekah Nicholson, as she was then, what exactly Peter Andre was like between the sheets.

The bubbly 22-year-old did not hold back: “When he pulled down his ­trousers I couldn’t believe it. It was like a ­miniature chipolata.”

7

Everyone giggled that day — Wednesday, March 10, 2004 — at the photographic studio in Clapham, South London, where the now Mrs Vardy had come to reveal all about her brief romance with the Mysterious Girl singer after he had appeared on I’m A Celebrity.

The tale was retold — to similar amusement  — in the Wagatha Christie libel trial in London’s Royal Courts of Justice earlier this month.

Over crisps and cola, she said Peter had lied about being in a relationship when he met her and made her cringe by trying the same chat-up lines on her that he had used on Katie Price, and boasting about his “touch of magic” with English girls.

This was nearly two decades ago, when “kiss and tell” interviews were commonplace. They were all about fun, with a large splattering of amazing sexual anecdotes.

Becky happily posed for photos.  She was very much as she is now — beautiful, confident, groomed and intelligent. But also fun — and open.

The headline the next Sunday read: “Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes . . .  then falls asleep.”

7

7

It wasn’t a front-page story and with the lack of the gigantic internet presence we have now, it could easily have been forgotten.

But this month in London’s Royal Courts of Justice, everyone in Court 13 was laughing too when this story was unearthed by Coleen Rooney’s legal team.

Expensive catfight

Becky, now 40, claimed in court she was coerced into giving the interview: “It was something I was forced to say.”

It certainly wasn’t by me. But weeks after our chat she told me it had been her then-boyfriend who suggested she speak out. Not her idea — but she went along with it.

She has since apologised to Peter. As have I. He is an utter gentleman.

I interviewed him years later and, to his credit, he didn’t hold a grudge and was warm, understanding and friendly. He has even publicly joked about it.

7

I have interviewed Becky since then too. I always like chatting with her but she is much more guarded now — sometimes stand-offish after years of hard knocks.

She has talked about her troubled relationships, post-natal depression, attempted overdose and her own sexual abuse.

Those interviews were to help others — and to promote herself.

And by 2019 she finally thought, aged 36, she had cracked it — a happy marriage to top-flight footballer Jamie Vardy and a profile she had fought for.

Then Mrs Rooney made her accusations.

Becky, in turn, pursued this case, which has fuelled the most expensive catfight of all time — and nobody could stop her.

She said in court that the Peter Andre story is one of her biggest regrets but I would imagine bringing this libel case against Coleen beats anything else now.

Becky says she suffered anxiety and ended up in hospital three times, fearing she would lose her baby because of the abuse she received after Coleen’s post.

And her career tumbled as she lost lucrative book and brand deals.

Wayne Rooney says the past two years have been “very traumatic” for Coleen too and he has watched her struggle “and become a different mother and different wife”.

Whatever the outcome, this hearing has been catastrophic for both women, who are more similar than they would like to admit.

While Becky has faced a catalogue of battles before her marriage, Coleen has endured more than any wife should have to during hers.

The masks of steel they have worn going into court are no act. Both women have built them up over the years.

And this will be killing each of them because everything they have fought for is being destroyed.

Behind closed doors, both are the bosses in their plush mansions.

When Becky first walked into hers, she knew she had to finally be in charge. And Coleen has been forced to pull on the trousers to deal with a husband who has struggled to keep his up.

7

I first met Coleen — then aged 18 — on July 1, 2004, four months after interviewing Becky. It was at the luxurious stately home Knowsley Hall, near Liverpool.

Wayne had agreed to do an interview, jointly with The Sun and the News of the World, after Euro 2004. There was a huge cast of stylists, make-up artists, agents and photographers but the star of the show was 18-year-old Wayne.

He is one of the most entertaining men I’ve ever met — I will never forget his brilliant anecdotes about his love for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and how he used to put a tie around his head and pretend to be one of the characters while at school.

Adored his fiancée

By his side was Coleen, who barely spoke.

She was the young girl who had first been pictured in the media in her school uniform. A girl who has only ever had this relationship that turned her into a Wag when she was a child.

She is only 36 now — two years older than Becky was when she married Jamie.

During our interview Wayne said: “We are just normal people who don’t want to be going out and presenting awards or whatever.”

He demonstrated how down-to-earth they were by telling the story of how he proposed — on a garage forecourt, then ditched a romantic meal so they could go back to Coleen’s mum’s and celebrate with the family and watch EastEnders.

He spoke of his amazement at the fame that was changing his life, and said: “When we go out I’m constantly asked for autographs, which I don’t mind, but we also get girls coming up and targeting me because I’m a footballer.”

Back then, I would have bet on him being faithful, because he clearly adored his fiancée.

They had an unspoken bond and would smile softly and giggle at each other. He was the talker, the entertainer, the more grown-up of the duo.

Coleen was happy for her “man” to take centre stage.

She was smart though — her few words were well thought out, but she was happy for big, strong Wayne to take the lead.

When she did speak, she lacked the warmth and friend-liness of her teenage fiancé.

She told me about life as a Wag at the 2004 tournament, saying: “I got on really well with David and Victoria [Beckham].

“She’s lovely — dead down-to-earth, just like me. She’s not posh or anything like that, and nobody calls her that either.

“Victoria’s kids are dead sweet. I love kids but I’m not ready to have my own yet.”

For a while after that, Coleen had her own career — a deal with Littlewoods and Asda, a magazine column, her own ITV programme, a fitness DVD and a series of books.

7

Coleen’s bag carrier

But even at 18 she said her dream was to have a solid, loving family like her own one day. That was her priority.

So when Wayne turned into a big kid himself, she focused on her marriage.

She has put up with a granny romp, a prostitute threesome and a ten-hour booze-up that saw Wayne getting into a car with a barmaid.

Amazingly she has stood by him — and successfully dragged him through each scandal in order to protect her family and rebuild their reputation.

She has become the stronger one and now, as we have all seen, he has had to become the designer bag carrier into court.

He has sat by her side throughout — surely payback for all he has put her through.

And the court has heard about his hideous antics, their marriage problems, how Coleen hated living in America.

Whatever this case’s outcome, both women have lost so much — the career that Becky fought for, the devastating marriage secrets that Coleen never wanted to resurface. I think both will have huge regrets.

The only people who have won are, obviously, the lawyers — and the watching public, who have lapped up every second of the twists, turns, accusations, fashion shows and power struggles of this £3million blockbuster thriller.

7