When Kyle Walker came face to face last July with his ex-lover Lauryn Goodman, he left her in no doubt that he was absolutely furious with her.
It had been almost a year since their previous meeting, and the two were at London’s Central Family Court to discuss support payments for their two young children, Kairo and Kinara.
They bumped into each other while waiting for the hearing to begin, and to say the atmosphere was chilly is putting it mildly. Fortunately, when they were in court, they sat well apart.
Kyle’s animosity was understandable. Although he had already paid a generous sum to his ex, as we will see, she remained a very public thorn in his side as of early 2024.
In the weeks leading up to his day in court, Kyle had been playing for England at the Euros, playing very well in some matches.
But just two days after returning home from Germany, where England had lost in the final to Spain, the start of the court process brought him back to earth with a blow.
Lauryn, center, arrives at the side entrance of Central Family Court for her child support case with Kyle in July.
Kyle Walker serves coffee during a break from courtroom drama with ex Lauryn
In court, the judge accused Lauryn of treating Kyle like an ‘open checkbook’ with her demands for, among other things, a £32,000 Astro Turf pitch for her daughter and £500 a month for jacuzzi maintenance.
It was clear that Kyle had become enraged by his shopping list.
“When they met face to face, Kyle was absolutely furious with Lauryn,” said a friend who was there. “He has always been financially generous with the children, but she wanted more and more and Kyle was very angry about it.
“I was living every man’s nightmare.”
Kyle’s only saving grace, however, was that his form on the field with England and Manchester City, where he earns £190,000 a week, remained strong during this period and for some time afterwards.
But that changed noticeably at the weekend when he was involved in an altercation with Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund during the first half of the traditionally Manchester derby.
Both players were booked after Kyle’s opponent reacted angrily to being fouled by him. But Kyle himself fell theatrically to the ground as Hojlund confronted him.
Football pundits were appalled by his behaviour, including Roy Keane, who said witheringly: “I’m ashamed of him.”
Kyle and his wife, the former Annie Kilner. He will have to give her £15 million to make her financially secure.
Meanwhile, there has been increasing criticism of his performance this season for Manchester City, with fans clearly saying that he is no longer the player he once was.
Given what he’s been through in recent years, it’s perhaps not surprising that his game is starting to suffer. For almost 12 months, there have been non-stop headlines and thousands of columns about his off-field misdeeds.
The unfortunate sequence of events that culminated in one of the biggest WAG-related scandals in football began in 2019 when, while on a break from his wife Annie, he left Lauryn pregnant with Kairo.
Shortly after, he and Annie got back together and married.
But in the winter of 2022, Lauryn became pregnant with Kyle’s baby again, and the following summer, their only daughter was born.
What happened subsequently helps explain why Kyle is so angry at his ex-lover, according to sources.
Because on December 27 of last year, just two days after Kyle enjoyed a happy family Christmas with his wife and children, Lauryn sent Annie an explosive and joyful message, writing: “Hi, I’m Lauryn. I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter.
Annie kicked Kyle out. He then used a newspaper interview to publicly apologize for his “stupid decisions” and “mistakes,” which, in turn, angered Lauryn, who responded by saying his words were “unimaginably cruel” to her children.
Kyle was involved in an altercation with Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund during the first half of the Manchester derby at the weekend.
That led to a very public and extraordinary feud, in which Kyle and Annie Walker hired a publicity consultant to brief the media after the fight.
However, a year after Lauryn’s holiday message to Annie, things have barely improved for Kyle, who misses his two children with Lauryn “terribly” and feels like he can’t see them because of the fight with his mother, friends say .
Meanwhile, Lauryn isn’t leaving and appears to be making the most of her moment in the sun.
She has been flitting between two different agents, one of whom is former News Of The World executive Ian Edmondson and the other, former glamor model Nicola McLean.
Lauryn is also currently orchestrating a campaign over child support payments with the Labor Party, which is somewhat ironic given that, courtesy of Kyle, she has a £2.4 million house in Sussex and a Mercedes 4×4.
“Kyle would love to see Kairo and Kinara, but with Lauryn everything is very difficult,” said a source close to the fight. ‘It’s sad for him, they are his children and that takes its toll on him.
“She wishes there was a more adult way to deal with this difficult domestic situation, but she feels that Lauryn simply wants to be famous and is determined to stay in the spotlight. She is obsessed with Kyle and his life. Who knows if she will ever change .
‘Imagine Lauryn handing her children to Kyle at the motorway services. Would the paparazzi appear to capture the moment?
Lauryn posted this picture on Instagram of Kyle’s kids watching him play.
‘Then you would wonder; If the children were to see Kyle, would the details of the visit be made public?
For her part, it is understood that Lauryn has said that Kyle does not want to see the children.
Either way, it’s hard to feel sympathy for Kyle.
“This is all his mess,” says a source close to the defender. “It’s easy to blame women, but he should have kept his pants on so he wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Meanwhile, Lauryn isn’t the only woman taking advantage of Kyle’s mind. In October, his wife Annie surprised him when she served him with divorce papers after ordering lawyers to begin proceedings to formally end four years of marriage after a relationship that began when they were teenagers in their hometown of Sheffield.
While the couple’s publicist insists that “not everything is as it seems” and that Annie is, in fact, seeking an “undivided divorce,” meaning Kyle won’t have to move out of the family home, but willpower she would have to hand over around £15 million to be financially secure.
“This whole thing is a disaster,” said a friend. “Annie has struggled to deal with all of this, so home is not a pleasant place for Kyle.”
Which brings us back to his football performances.
“When you have to play important football games you need security,” says the friend, “the whole divorce thing is the last thing you need.”
Adding to all of this is the fact that, at the age of 34, Kyle is nearing the end of his playing career and is fully aware that his earning potential is no longer what it once was. He also can’t escape the fact that his past successes – as well as his stupidity and sexual incontinence – have made him a target for money for women.
A few months ago, a glamor model contacted me in an attempt to sell her story for a five-figure sum. She claimed that she and Kyle knew each other intimately after meeting at a party. She also claimed that she and Annie had been in contact over her friendship with Kyle.
He is aware of the woman’s claims, which raises the question of whether he also fears that there are other details about her life that could become public.
“Kyle has always liked to go out at night and has made himself very vulnerable,” a friend said.
His boss at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, has been staunchly loyal despite Kyle’s extracurricular activities, although one wonders for how much longer.
There has been talk of him moving to Saudi Arabia, but there is little evidence to support that happening.
However, one thing is certain. In reality, there is only one person responsible for his fall.
“They warned him that all this outside noise would affect his football and his bank balance,” said a former associate. But he kept going regardless. And he alone can be blamed for that.