If anyone ever needed a shoulder to cry on, it was Lauryn Goodman after she realized the shocking details of her humiliating courtroom showdown were about to become public.
For months, she had been confident that the colourful list of financial demands she had made of her former lover, Premier League footballer Kyle Walker, would remain legally confidential.
But when it became clear that details of Ms Goodman’s extraordinary requirements – including a seven-bedroom mansion, a £28-an-hour gardener and a car worth up to £70,000 every three years – would be published around the world, the 33-year-old influencer knew exactly who to turn to.
Lauryn Goodman’s extraordinary financial needs included a seven-bedroom mansion, a gardener charging £28 an hour and a car worth up to £70,000 every three years.
Ms. Goodman, Kyle Walker’s former lover, is the mother of two of his children.
Fellow WAG Rebekah Vardy suffered an embarrassing High Court defeat two years ago when she sued Coleen Rooney for libel.
Move on, Rebekah Vardy, the fellow WAG who suffered an even more embarrassing defeat in the High Court two years ago when she sued Coleen Rooney for libel.
The so-called “Wagatha Christie” trial gripped the nation and turned Vardy into a laughing stock.
Now the Mail can reveal that Ms Vardy and Ms Goodman – Walker’s former lover and mother of two of his children – have become so close that Vardy is reportedly advising her on how to write social media posts in the wake of the case.
The women have also been speaking daily and Ms Vardy, a mother of five, has been supporting Ms Goodman, who is raising two young children as a single mother. (Ms Vardy had been a single mother before meeting Leicester City and England striker Jamie in 2014.)
She also introduced Goodman to her publicist, who is known to have good connections with the tabloids.
A friend of Ms Goodman tells me: ‘There’s a fascinating friendship going on behind the scenes, Lauryn and Becky have a lot in common.
‘Becky has been mentoring Lauryn, introducing her to people she’s worked with, guiding her on what to post online and how to behave in public. Becky has also been supporting her as she raises her children alone. She knows exactly what that’s like.
“Lauryn appreciated the advice, of course, and there weren’t a lot of people rushing to support her, so she appreciated it.”
Last weekend, Vardy left a supportive post on Goodman’s Instagram account, writing: “Keep fighting like I know you always will. The truth will prevail.”
The full list of Ms Goodman’s demands on Walker, 34, became apparent late last month after reporting restrictions were lifted following a court application by newspapers including the Mail.
It emerged she wanted Walker to pay maintenance equivalent to a £350,000 annual salary and provide £31,000 for an artificial turf because she believes her one-year-old daughter, who cannot yet walk, will one day become a “Lioness” – a star of the England women’s football team.
He ordered a £70,000 Mercedes and a £30,000 car for his nanny, even though she couldn’t drive.
The so-called “Wagatha Christie” trial shocked the nation and turned Vardy, pictured, into a laughing stock.
Ms Goodman argued she needed £500 a month to maintain a hot tub solely for the children’s use, another £500 a month for a gardener and £1,440 a month for a cleaner.
Those close to Goodman fear it will take some time for him to recover from the humiliation he suffered when Judge Edward Hess told him he was treating Walker, who earns £160,000 a week playing for Manchester City, like an “open chequebook” since she gave birth to his two children, Kairo, four, and Kinara, one.
Friends say she has become calmer and less inclined to draw attention to herself since the case, and “very, very depressed.”
One of them says: “Lauryn has always been very outspoken, very confident that she is right, but this has hit her like a ton of bricks. She was deeply concerned about the scathing public reaction. It all seems very unfair to her.”
Ms Vardy had a similar experience after her own court battle, in which the judge described her as an “unreliable witness”.
He was ordered to pay more than £2m in legal costs after the nine-day hearing, including £1.5m towards Ms Rooney’s costs.
The scandal erupted when Rooney accused Vardy of leaking stories to The Sun newspaper in October 2019.
Footballer Kyle Walker with his wife Annie Kilner. Walker earns £160,000 a week playing for Manchester City
Ms Vardy had been a single mother before meeting Leicester City and England striker Jamie in 2014.
Rebekah Vardy, left, with Annie Kilner, Kyle Walker’s wife, during the 2018 World Cup
Ms Rooney, wife of former Manchester United and England striker Wayne, announced on social media that the Instagram account which leaked her private Instagram posts “was Rebekah Vardy’s account” after she turned to a detective to catch her.
The following year, Vardy sued Rooney for defamation and the case went to trial in London in May 2022. Two months later, the judge dismissed the suit on the basis that Rooney’s statements had been substantially true.
Ms Vardy is said to have been left “devastated and horrified” by the outcome.
She has since appeared in a documentary about the case in which she talks about her difficult childhood with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Otherwise, she has remained largely out of the spotlight.
Coleen Rooney, wife of former Manchester United and England striker Wayne, turned detective to catch Rebekah Vardy
Close observers of the situation say that while Ms Vardy has become friendly with Ms Goodman, her former antagonist Ms Rooney has stood by Kyle Walker’s wife Annie Kilner since the bombshell news last December that Walker had fathered a second child with Lauryn.
The Walkers have also employed the legal and PR teams that helped Ms Rooney win her fight with Ms Vardy, including Liverpool-based solicitor Paul Lunt of Brabners and PR expert Rachel Monk.
Meanwhile, Ms Goodman has hired Rebekah’s PR agent, Ian Edmondson, a former news editor at The News of the World who left the paper amid the phone-hacking scandal.
Ms Goodman is also friends with Caroline Watt, Ms Vardy’s former agent whose phone (and several messages on it) disappeared from a boat in the North Sea.
There are further parallels, as both women have luxurious tastes.
Lauryn lives in a spacious house with a Hydropool hot tub, while Mrs Vardy and her husband Jamie live in a sprawling £3million country house in Lincolnshire, complete with a bar, gym, football pitch and specialist rainbow-coloured play park, complete with a slide, swings and climbing frame.
Lauryn drives a high-end Mercedes, while Rebekah has a customized Range Rover.
As a friend of Lauryn’s said, “At least they have a lot to talk about.”