Rebekah Vardy will detail her sexual abuse from the age of 12 in a new documentary.
The WAG, who is married to Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy, said she reported the abuse, which went on for three years, to her mother.
Rebekah claims ‘Elders’ in her Jehovah’s Witness church were also told, but she wasn’t believed and was told she had ‘misinterpreted’ the abuse.
Now a 41-year-old mum-of-five and having been out of the religion – which she refers to as a ‘cult’ – since she was a teenager, she says she is still dealing with the lasting effects of what happened to her during her childhood.
And as exclusively reported by Mirror earlier this month, Rebekah will lay bare the details of her troubled childhood in a new documentary.
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Rebekah says she was abused for three years from the age of 12 (Channel 4/Hardcash Productions)As part of the programme, she speaks to other women who were abused and have since left the church.
Detailing her own experience, Rebekah shares her abuser was a family friend who was not part of the Jehovah’s Witness religion.
But when she confided in her mother, who she has a fractured relationship with, the family sought guidance from church 'elders.'
Rebekah with footballer husband Jamie Vardy (Instagram)
The couple married in 2016 and share three children (LightRocket via Getty Images)In the documentary, Rebekah says: “What happened to me during my childhood still affects me every single day. From the age of 12 years old, I was being abused.
“And instead of being supported, I was blamed, manipulated into believing it wasn’t the best thing to take it to the police.
“I told my mum about the abuse that I was experiencing and she cried. But she didn’t believe me. She told numerous members of the Jehovah’s Witness community.”
Rebekah said she attended a meeting where it was put to her she had ‘misinterpreted’ the abuse as a form of affection.
She was also told she could bring shame on her family if she took the allegations any further.
At the 'Wagatha Christie' court case, which Rebekah lost (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)“I just blamed myself,” she said in a new interview with the Mail on Sunday. “I felt I hadn’t been good enough, I deserved it. It all goes back to that childhood pattern of seeking perfection.”
When meeting another abuse survivor, who claims she was abused by an adult member of her congregation from the age of eight, Rebekah says she had an ‘out of body experience’.
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She revealed: “I was hearing her words, but it was like I wasn’t in the room any more. It resonated with me so deeply, it was like I was listening to myself in ten or 15 years’ time.”
Rebekah said the decision to ignore the abuse led to her attempting suicide at the age of 14.
A year later she was made homeless following a row with her family and sofa surfed until a job collecting glasses in a pub earned her enough money to rent a room in a bed and breakfast.
In her 20s she became a nightclub promoter and met now husband Jamie when she was hired to organise his 27th birthday party.
They married in 2016 and share three children – Sofia, seven, Finley, four, and two-year-old Olivia.
Rebekah also has two older children from previous relationships, daughter Megan, 18, and 11-year-old son Taylor.
*Rebekah Vardy: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Me airs on Channel 4 on May 16 at 10pm
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