What Rebekah Vardy did before she met footballer husband Jamie and why his parents were not at their lavish wedding
The Vardy family is divided with a riftRebekah Vardy is now living the life of luxury after marrying footballer husband Jamie – but what did she do before they met?
The couple are front and centre of primetime telly this week after their new reality show dropped onto ITV.
Viewers of The Vardys are following Rebekah and Jamie as they uproot their children and move to Italy.
When it was filmed, Jamie had just left Leicester City FC and signed for Cremonese, based in the Lombardy region.
With private jets, a 12 -bedroom mansion and designer clothes and jewellery, Rebekah’s high-profile and glamorous life is worlds away from the one she previously had.
Here’s what we know about her rags to riches tale.
What did Rebekah Vardy do before she met Jamie?
Rebekah Nicholson – as she was then known – met Jamie in January 2014. She was working as a nightclub promoter in Sheffield at the time, while he was playing for Leicester FC.
The couple were introduced to each other when Rebekah was asked to organise a 27th birthday party for an unknown celebrity.
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In Netflix’s recent documentary Untold UK: Jamie Vardy, Rebekah recalled: “I find out it was Jamie Vardy, and I’m like, ‘What’s the big deal?
“I don’t even know who he was, but when I learned that Jamie was a professional sports player it made me want to run in the other direction.
“There’s this preconception that they’re all idiots, they are all [bleep]holes.”
Rebekah had not long since come out of a relationship with lower league football player, Luke Foster. During their six-year romance, they had got engaged and had a son together called Taylor. He is now 15.
She was also already mum to daughter Megan, now 20. Rebekah gave birth to Megan while dating an electrician.
Rebekah remembered how Jamie was carried out of the club drunk on the night they met. But he text her “relentlessly”, asking for a date.
“It got to a point where I was like, ‘Oh [bleep] it, just go and meet him and that would be the end of it’,” Rebekah said in the Netflix doc.
She added: “The more I sat with him, the more I realised, actually, behind this crazy, alcohol-loving wild party boy was a guy that was really kind, really good at listening and he was really good to talk to. We decided to go on a couple of dates.”
When did Rebekah marry Jamie Vardy?
Rebekah fell pregnant with Jamie’s child very soon into their new relationship, with daughter Sofia arriving later that year.
In 2015, Jamie got down on one knee and proposed to Rebekah while on holiday in Portugal. The couple began planning a lavish wedding, but it was reportedly postponed three times due to Jamie’s hectic football schedule.
Jamie and Rebekah eventually tied the knot on May 25, 2016 at the Grade I listed Peckforton Castle in Cheshire. Jamie’s Leicester City team mates were among the guests, along with One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and musicianTinchy Stryder.
Why weren’t Jamie Vardy’s parents at his and Rebekah’s wedding?
Jamie’s mum Lisa and stepdad Phil Vardy – who he regarded as his dad growing up – were noticeably absent from the wedding. Jamie does not speak to his biological father.
Whispers of a rift between Jamie and his parents began to circulate in the lead up to the Big Day, as it began public that they weren’t going.
Jamie had apparently not spoken to his mother Lisa in 18 months and decided not to invite her or Phil to the wedding.
Phil later told The Mirror saying: “It’s not right to talk about it at such a time. It’s been going on ever since she came on the scene.
“It’s a shame and very sad. I don’t have anything directly to do with my son any more but I’m still his biggest fan from afar. I’m very proud.”
Phil was also quoted as saying: “We won’t be going to the wedding.
“It’s a real shame and very sad. I’ve given him 22 years of my life to get him to the pinnacle of his career and I can’t enjoy it. It really upsets me.”
Phil and Lisa were said to have declined taking part in Netflix’s Untold UK: Jamie Vardy. There is no reports of Jamie’s rift with his parents healing.
Read more: Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney: A timeline of Wagatha Christie as ITV’s The Vardys drags it back up
