Rebekah Vardy was ‘bubbly and open’ during kiss-and-tell on Peter Andre

Rebekah Vardy was ‘bubbly and open’ during the kiss-and-tell interview on Peter Andre, but has become ‘more guarded’ over the years, the journalist who conducted the interview has claimed. 

The WAG’s tawdry story about her brief fling with the popstar – in which she described him as being ‘hung like a small chipolata’ – has become crucial evidence in the Wagatha Christie libel case that has gripped the High Court.

Then Rebekah Nicholson, the 22-year-old was working at a timeshare office when the incident occurred and reportedly ‘didn’t hold back’ when it came to spilling her thoughts to the News of the World. 

However, according to The Sun on Sunday‘s Jane Atkinson, Rebekah, 40, has become more reserved over the years, perhaps occasionally ‘standoffish’ after years of ‘hard knocks.’

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Rebekah Vardy, pictured here arriving at the High Court on Thursday, was reportedly  ‘bubbly and open’ during her kiss-and-tell on Peter Andre when she was just 22, the journalist who interviewed her at the time has said

The WAG’s tell-all about her brief fling with the popstar – in which she described the singer as being ‘hung like a small chipolata’ – has become crucial evidence in the Agatha Christie libel case that has gripped the High Court 

‘She was very much as she is now — beautiful, confident, groomed and intelligent. But also fun — and open’, she wrote. 

Jane added: ‘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.’ 

Ms Atkinson added that while both she and Vardy have apologised to Andre, 49, since the interview, the piece ‘wasn’t a front-page story’ which ‘could easily have been forgotten.’

Her comments come after the second husband of Vardy challenged parts of his ex-wife’s testimony, in particular claims she had been ‘forced’ into telling the News Of The World about her fling. 

Mrs Vardy’s probity was called into question on day one of the case, when Mr Sherborne grilled her about leaking stories and respecting people’s privacy – and read out extracts from her 2003 News Of The World interview that included disparaging comments about Mr Andre having ‘the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen’

Ms Vardy’s probity was called into question on day one of the case, when Ms Rooney’s barrister, David Sherborne grilled her about leaking stories and respecting people’s privacy. 

He read out extracts from her 2003 News Of The World interview that included disparaging comments about Mr Andre having ‘the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen’.

In the witness stand, Mrs Vardy said: ‘I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret.’

But Steve Clarke, who was Vardy’s boss at the time and went on to marry her, claims the decision to tell all to the tabloid was Rebekah’s alone. 

Coleen Rooney arriving at London’s Royal Courts of Justice as she and Vardy battle it out in their £3million libel case

He claims she decided to do the interview after she spotted an appeal in the newspaper for stories about contestants in a forthcoming series of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity. 

‘Becky said to me, ‘Oh look, I should tell them about Peter Andre’,’ he says. ‘I asked her why she would want to do that and she replied that it would be a bit of money for her and it would be funny. I told her she should do whatever she wanted to do.’

Her fling with Mr Andre at the Burnham Beeches Hotel in Buckinghamshire had taken place two years before the interview – and just after Rebekah secured a £25,000-a-year job with Mr Clarke’s firm in Oxfordshire.

‘Rebekah was chatty, fun and pretty, but I didn’t know much more until everyone started talking about her spending the night with Peter,’ he recalled. 

‘She had told colleagues and it became the talk of the office, within a week of it happening, everybody knew what had happened. She could not keep it quiet.’

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Steve Clarke is especially keen to challenge Rebekah Vardy’s courtroom assertion that he was an abusive partner who ‘forced’ her into doing the interview about Peter Andre.

Mr Clarke began dating his employee in 2001 – while she was separated from her first husband, electrician Mark Godden. They married in 2005 but split a year later – and have remained on acrimonious terms.

Clarke, now 57, has denied any cruelty, saying: ‘I was never abusive towards Becky, I was never controlling. She did what she wanted, when she wanted and I never raised a hand to her either. The false claims against me have been upsetting me, my family and friends.’

He added: ‘I feel sorry for Peter Andre for what was said about him and now it’s time I spoke out.’

However Rebekah’s spokesman said of Mr Clarke last night: ‘Mrs Vardy is all too aware of the harrowing truth about this individual and no amount of misogynistic victim shaming will change this.’