Few can deny the story has been captivating, even for those jaded by the tawdry world of Premiership footballers and their convoluted love lives. All the elements are there: deception, intrigue, secret babies and big reveals, all against the backdrop of obscene wealth and luxury.
The saga of Manchester City and England defender Kyle Walker, his second secret ‘love child’ with model and influencer Lauryn Goodman and the suffering of his heavily pregnant wife Annie Kilner, has kept the UK on the edge of its seat since the beginning of the year.
And throughout its twists and turns, the identity of the villain of the piece has been clear: Lauryn.
In her revealing interview, Lauryn said she had been ‘completely poisoned’ by Kyle Walker
The 31-year-old was branded ‘toxic’, ‘evil’ and a ‘homewrecker’ after it was revealed she’d messaged her rival on December 27 to tell her that Walker was, indeed, the father of her seven-month-old daughter. Lauryn already had a three-year-old son, Kairo, with the £240,000-a-week star, conceived during a fling while he and Annie were on a relationship break back in 2019.
Annie then announced, on January 10, that she and Kyle were separating.
But events in this vulgar tale took a further, unexpected, twist on Monday when Walker told his side of the story in a newspaper interview, profusely apologising to his childhood sweetheart Annie, who is pregnant with their fourth child.
He described his relationship with Lauryn as involving ‘stupid choices’ and ‘mistakes’.
Nothing is, of course, the fault of the children, but some argued it was just deserts for Lauryn. After all, hadn’t she brought the situation upon herself?
Yet the Lauryn I meet this week is far from the monster she has been branded in the media. Sweet, funny and self-deprecating — a definite ‘girls’ girl’— while she doesn’t deny she’s made a lot of mistakes, she claims both she and Annie have been victims of Walker’s ego and lies.
‘None of this has been my finest hour, but I’m not the first and I won’t be the last woman to have ever slept with a married man — and he did completely poison me,’ she says.
‘I won’t get into the private conversations I have had with Annie, but she did tell me initially she felt we were both victims of his manipulative and controlling behaviour, and at times we have got along quite well, apologised to one another and had a mutual understanding.’
It cannot be denied, however, that alongside the abuse and betrayal, there have been some obvious financial advantages for Lauryn in her relationship — if that’s what it can be called — with Walker.
We meet at the seven-bedroom, £2.4 million home just outside Brighton which he recently bought for her. The palatial gated property is every inch what you’d expect of a WAG, and boasts a swimming pool, a hot tub and views of the sea.
She does, however, appear drawn and tired, having confessed she had barely slept for days following Walker’s ‘mea culpa’ interview this week in which he said of their affair: ‘I made idiot choices and idiot decisions. I can’t begin to think or imagine what Annie is going through.’
He added: ‘The only person to blame is me. I have roles and responsibilities that I’m aware of and I’ve made stupid choices. But I need to own up to my mistakes.’
Football star Walker and his childhood sweetheart Annie, with whom he has four children
However, she said there was no longer a feud between her and Annie after they cleared the air
As Lauryn cradles her baby daughter in her arms, wearing a necklace with the letters ‘K’ and ‘W’ with a diamond set into them, she talks about the agony of hearing the father of her children describing her relationship with him as a ‘mistake’.
‘I can take it from strangers — but hearing that from their dad was unimaginably cruel,’ she says.
‘It was the most painful thing in the world for me as a mum. They are beautiful, wonderful children and deserve everything.
‘They are my only priority now — I am completely over fighting with Kyle or his wife, but I will fight tooth and nail for those two for the rest of my life.
‘It’s horrifying that our children will one day have access to those videos and words. I think he has forgotten how cruel the school playground can be. It breaks my heart.
‘People can’t imagine the challenge of having a three-year-old boy who is aware of his dad and sees him in adverts, on TV, on billboards every week — it’s huge.
‘Nobody understands what it is like when a young boy points to a photo of his dad and just wants to see him. It breaks my heart.
‘It was me who ended it with Kyle. If I’d wanted to, I could have continued to have a secret family together. But I couldn’t deal with the toxicity any more, and I realised it wasn’t good for my children.’
She breaks down in tears: ‘When will this end? I need this to end.’
When approached by the Mail, Kyle and Annie disagreed with Lauryn’s account. They claim she is not taking into account the best interests of the children.
It has been quite a saga. Kyle and Annie, 31, first met in their hometown of Sheffield when she was 15 and he 17. She has previously described their early bond as ‘love at first sight’, and they have three sons together: Roman, 12, Riaan, eight, and Reign, six.
As is often the case with highly successful footballers, the path of their relationship has been far from smooth, principally due to Walker’s penchant for playboy models, escorts and reality TV stars.
In 2019, after Annie had kicked him out following an indiscretion, he again crossed paths with Lauryn, after first meeting her in 2009 through her sister Chloe, a former glamour model, who is herself now married to a footballer.
Their son Kairo, was born in April 2020 and Lauryn later publicly named Walker as the father.
Walker confessed all to Annie and she kicked him out — again — before deciding to give their relationship another try for the sake of their children, reportedly on the condition that he had no more contact with Lauryn beyond ongoing financial arrangements.
Annie and Kyle married in secret in November 2021. But despite Walker’s protestations that their fling was a fleeting one, Lauryn says they often met up and last summer she gave birth to their daughter, whose name she has yet to reveal.
And last month, after that December 27th text and the ensuing public scandal, Annie turfed Walker, 33, out of their family home once again and prompted a fresh war between the two women.
Lauryn has two children with Walker – a son born in 2019 and a daughter aged eight months
She said it hurt to hear the father of her children describe their relationship as a ‘mistake’
Annie hired Coleen Rooney’s former publicist Rachel Monk to represent her and Walker to ensure that there were no ‘briefing wars’ between them. But, nevertheless, what ensued has turned into a vicious war of words.
‘None of us are blameless, but it didn’t need to be like this,’ Lauryn says. ‘I admit to my wrongdoings, I have been angry and at times acted on impulse and emotion, which I regret. But all three of us need to put this anger and destructive behaviour behind us for the benefit of our children.
‘They would like to paint me as fame-hungry and money-grabbing — but Kyle told me he knows I’m not that person and I’m a good mother.
‘Not that I need his confirmation for that. But nothing I have said or done has been with the intention of hurting Annie, or the five and soon to be six children involved in this sad situation.
‘There was a time when I hated her . . . but surely any mother would question how you could accept a man back but not his child?’
One notable angry ‘wrong-doing’ occurred last summer, following Manchester City’s Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble victory, when Lauryn appeared to goad Annie by sharing a snap on social media of Kairo wearing his father’s team’s kit.
However, Annie seemingly hit back at Lauryn’s post with a snap of her own, which showed her sons with their dad on the pitch, captioning the snap: ‘3 is the magic number.’
She added: ‘All these memories you get to have with your daddy. Nothing and no one will ever take that from you. We’ve got you 3.’
Furious, Lauryn then lashed out at Annie publicly, branding her a ‘wicked stepmother’ who is trying to ‘eradicate’ her son’s ‘existence’.
‘I am not scared of Kyle’s lawyers, publicity team, or his financial clout as I have been dealing with this for years now. I have a huge amount of proof to back up my version of events,’ she says.
Walker is currently living in an apartment close to the £3.5 million family mansion in Cheshire, and only time will tell whether Annie — currently seven months pregnant with their fourth child — will take him back again. The only time they have been seen together was two weeks ago when they were spotted with their eldest child in a car park.
Walker later took his son to The Best FIFA Football Awards where he was named in the team of the year.
Shortly before that, he had released a statement saying: ‘Annie is an amazing woman and I can only apologise for the upset I’ve caused her.
‘She’s been part of my life for so long and that will never change, for the sake of our children.
‘I would ask for privacy for all of our family, and especially our young children, whilst we work through these difficult times.’
But despite his pleas for privacy, days later Walker went to great lengths to admit his wrongdoings in an interview with The Sun. ‘I’ve caused a lot of pain to a lot of people,’ he said. ‘To personally hurt what I truly believe is my best friend, that’s what hurts a lot.
‘I need to find out why I have done this and why situations have occurred. I’m human and made mistakes on and off the field.’
While it’s a long stretch of imagination to think the two women will ever be friends, Lauryn has some supportive words for Annie.
‘I wish her the very best in her current pregnancy — I know how demanding that is on a woman’s body especially when you are caring for other children,’ (unable to resist adding) ‘who are my own kids’ half-siblings.’
‘There is no feud between Annie and I any more, certainly not from my perspective. We have cleared the air and I wish her strength for the future — she will need it if she is still being manipulated by Kyle.
‘As far as I am concerned this is the last I want to say on the matter. I hope we can all find a way forward as adults in the best interests of the children involved, who deserve to be the priority.
‘I have no concerns over whether Kyle and Annie decide to get back together or not. However, I do need to make it perfectly clear that we share two children together.
He may be telling Annie he wants nothing to do with our children, as he has said before, but that is a lie. He has told me many times, and I have many messages accordingly, saying that he wants ALL of his children in his life, and what will be will be beyond that.
‘I am sure the public would have respected Kyle more if he had said that, rather than pussyfooting around the subject, continuously lying in order to regain control.’
Despite much tension, Lauryn admits she will always have a strong emotional attachment to Kyle — a relationship she labels a ‘trauma bond’, when a person forms a deep emotional attachment with someone who causes them upset.
Lauryn says: ‘It’s the only way I can describe it really — we have a huge amount of shared history and a lot of emotional connection.’
While on the face of it Lauryn has an idyllic life, she says ‘it’s actually just a lot to take on alone. I’m here alone with our kids, it isn’t the life I planned by any means.
‘Our two children are beautiful, wonderful and perfect in every way. I’ve made it clear to Kyle he is very welcome to be a part of their lives as a dad — but with no relationship between he and I.
‘It’s not perfect, but I’ll make it work for them. Whatever it takes. I’d give my last breath for those children to be happy. I will be strong for my children.’