An expert has advised that Rebekah Vardy needs to stop making 'cryptic and snide Instagram stories' and instead issue a public apology to Coleen Rooney if she ever hopes to turn the tide of public perception.
In a new interview, Vardy, 40, has said in an interview for the upcoming interview: "'I wonder, how easy would it be to potentially set someone up in a way that makes it look like that is the only person that has seen those [leaked Instagram] posts?
But Roz Sheldon, managing partner of UK-based reputation management company Igniyte, doesn't feel this is the right approach for Rebekah to take at all and feels the mum-of-five needs to "show humility" if she ever hopes to repair her reputation.
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According to Sheldon: "From the outset, Coleen was seen to be correctly the victim in this case, and public support for her was only helped by her brilliant and thorough Wagatha Christie Instagram sting operation that revealed and levelled the accusations towards Rebekah Vardy."
Sheldon added that, 'Vardy seemed to have been hell-bent on blowing up her own reputation by going to court and going public', adding how public obsession with celebrity and social media led to the so-called Wagatha Christie trial becoming a phenomenon.
However, although Rebekah saw her celebrity status soar as the events of the high-profile trial unfolded, Sheldon believes the revelations have 'damaged Vardy’s reputation immensely from a moral perspective', and came with 'an incredibly high reputational and financial cost'.
Sheldon said: "Now Vardy has been ordered to pay a substantial £1.5million towards Coleen’s legal costs - it’s a pretty significant financial blow, but when it is compared to the cost to her reputation, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
"It, of course, wasn’t a wise move from a reputational point of view for Vardy to launch the case against Coleen in the first place, and the best way to try to start improving public perception and repairing her reputation would be to firstly show humility, by issuing a detailed public apology to Coleen, followed by some honest admission of misdoings.
"We all do things we aren’t proud of – an admission of mistakes, and an acknowledgment that celebrity culture and press attention can create toxic behaviours would be a great first step. This would soften people’s perception of her, and ultimately make her more likable again."
Reflecting on Rebekah's behaviour since the trial, Sheldon added that she also needs to 'stop making cryptic and snide Instagram stories towards Coleen', with the understanding that 'she has already lost this battle'.
Giving an example of this, Sheldon considered an Instagram post supposedly directed at Coleen, which contained the pointed message,'It’s always the ones with the dirty hands pointing the fingers'.
Sheldon continued: "She needs to get honest in a personal long-form video explaining honestly what went on from her side and that she never meant to harm anyone - this type of content would resonate hugely and encourage the public to talk about her online in a positive way.
"Then, it would be beneficial to her to keep the promotions and media interview rounds on the back burner, in an attempt to be less of a celebrity and more of an empath.
"Whether the case and the outcome will leave a permanent dent in her career and reputation remains to be seen, but at the moment, Vardy’s actions appear to be doing very little to alter the public perception against her.”
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