Rebekah Vardy reveals Norwich upbringing in religious group

Mrs Vardy, 41, has made a Channel 4 show about what she calls her "ruined childhood", growing up as a member of the Jehovah's Witness (JW) group in the city.

She lived in Norwich until the age of 11, when she and her mother moved to Reading.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday ahead of the show, Mrs Vardy is strongly critical of her time with the group.

Rebekah Vardy says her upbringing as a member of the Jehovah's Witness community was traumatic (Image: PA)

She said she had spent her Norwich childhood in fear and that members were "manipulated and brainwashed".

The Jehovah's Witnesses has responded strongly to the claims made by Mrs Vardy.

A spokesman said: "It is simply misleading and discriminatory to imply that our religion is controlling."

Mrs Vardy said: "I spent my childhood fearful, being told we were going to die in Armageddon if we didn't pray enough."

"I felt I had to constantly strive for perfection so that God would not be angry with me."

As part of the Channel 4, show, Mrs Vardy visited Norwich for the first time in a decade and went to the JW's Kingdom Hall, on Rosary Road, which she had once attended twice weekly for bible studies and worship.

Rebekah Vardy fled the city with her mother at the age of 11 (Image: Newsquest)

She said much of her extended family are still in the area, but that she has not reconciled with most of them.

Mrs Vardy, a mother of five, described her formative years as consisting of "bible studies and knocking on people's doors" - an experience she said she found "traumatic".

On one occasion, a man threw hot coffee over her as she was going door-to-door, because he was so enraged by the intrusion. 

"I was petrified, I cannot begin to tell you how traumatic it was when we met up on a Saturday, knowing we were going to be given our service rounds, thinking I might have to knock on the door of someone who was in my class," she told the Mail on Sunday.

"At school, we used to get dragged out of assembly because we couldn't sing the hymns or be present for any reference to religion, to Christian beliefs.

"If it was someone's birthday, and everyone was singing 'Happy Birthday to You', that was the same, we had to leave. It was humiliating. Mortifying."

In one incident, Mrs Vardy had coffee thrown at her after knocking on someone's door (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Mrs Vardy left Norwich suddenly at the age of 11, when her mother took her to live in Reading, then Oxfordshire.

The footballer's wife does not know the precise reason why they left the city so swiftly.

She says at some point her mother was 'defellowshipped' - expelled from the Witnesses.

In her new TV show, Mrs Vardy also disclosed that she was sexually abused, after she had left Norwich. Her abuser was not a Jehovah's Witness.

Mrs Vardy is perhaps best known for her 'Wagatha Christie' legal battle with fellow footballer's wife Coleen Rooney.

She sued Mrs Rooney after the fellow WAG accused her of leaking secrets from her private Instagram account, which Mrs Vardy denied.

But the court found that Mrs Rooney's statements were 'substantially true', leaving her rival with a legal bill estimated at £3 million.

Rebekah Vardy: Jehovah's Witnesses and Me airs on Tuesday, May 16, at 10pm. 

WHAT DO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BELIEVE?

The religion was founded in the 1870s by American preacher Charles Taze Russell on Christian principles, although it diverges from mainstream Christian churches.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that at the End of Days those who strive for goodness will inhabit a paradise on earth.

In pursuit of goodness, they operate a strict moral code which rules out adultery, smoking, drinking, homosexuality, gluttony, and swearing.

Most famously, they are banned from having blood transfusions.

There are more than eight million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide and 130,000 in the UK.