Rebekah Vardy has said she has received a torrent of abuse and death threats against her and her unborn baby on social media following her public feud with Coleen Rooney.
Police have visited the home of the 37-year-old mother-of-four, whom Rooney accused of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun newspaper – an accusation she denies.
The allegation came in a Twitter post on Tuesday, where Rooney described sharing deliberately false information on her Instagram account while blocking all accounts other than Vardy’s.
Her apparent feat of deduction made headlines around the world and caused countless online observers to revel in the drama, comparing Rooney to great detectives and investigative journalists of the past, both real and fictional.
However, it also prompted a torrent of vitriolic abuse directed at Vardy, who is seven months pregnant.
In one message shared on Instagram by the mother, a member of the public said: “F*** you dirty sly c*** I hope that baby dies within you b****”
Another added: “I’m glad you got exposed and tatted (sic) out by Coleen Rooney. It’s no less than you deserve."
“Sell your side of your story to the sun newspaper and get your gender surgery done you man faced c****”.
Officers from Lincolnshire police are reported to have since attended Ms Vardy’s address, the home she shares with her four children and Leicester City striker husband Jamie – with a force spokesperson stating they had paid “passing attention” to the mansion “due to a concern about a number of media outlets in the area".
Friends of Vardy have said she has struggled to see the lighter side of the affair.
"She doesn’t see the funny side of this, but we’re all sitting laughing about it,” reality TV star Nicola McLean told a panel on the Jeremy Vine on 5 show. “I’m trying not to be too serious here but I’ve seen the impact it’s actually had.”
