EXCLUSIVE: Lauryn Goodman invites OK! into her home and opens up about family life and what the truth is behind those rumours she’s following ex Kyle Walker to Italy
Lauryn Goodman has spoken out for the first time since the latest twist in the highly publicised saga of herself, footballer Kyle Walker and his wife Annie Kilner. It was claimed last week that Lauryn, who shares two children with Kyle, is planning to move to Italy following her ex’s recent transfer to AC Milan.
His wife Annie, meanwhile, is expected to relocate with Kyle for a fresh start. So what is going on behind closed doors? When OK! joins Lauryn at her £2.4million four-bedroom East Sussex home, owned by Kyle, she remains tight-lipped over her alleged plans to move, but admits, “For the last year I wished to have the option to move abroad because, with all of the drama, I’d like a life reset, but I’m not sure how that looks for us at the minute or what that entails.”
Defiantly, she adds, “It makes no difference to me where [Kyle] is, he could be on Mars right now for all I care.” For now, Lauryn is uncertain if she is staying put at the property, where she lives with their son Kairo, four, and daughter Kinara, 19 months, but says she simply wants a fresh start. She and Kyle first started seeing each other back in 2019. While the ill-fated relationship produced two gorgeous kids, it’s also provided a mountain of heartache and frustration for Lauryn.
She adds, “I’ve been through hell and back fighting for my children and then absolutely being crucified for it in the process.” Indeed, Lauryn has been vilified since her affair with former Manchester City ace Kyle, 34, became public, when she sent an explosive text to Annie, revealing he was the father of their second child. Now, despite insisting she only wishes for her children what Kyle and Annie’s sons – Roman, 13, Riaan, nine, seven-year-old Reign and baby Rezon – are entitled to, cruel trolls have branded Lauryn “greedy” and a “gold digger”.
Those labels were not helped by the astronomical figures referenced in their court case in July last year. Lauryn requested funds of £177,000 a year from Kyle, as well as a £70,000 car allowance every three years. But was awarded £150,000 and £51,000.
She also wanted him to pay for air conditioning and an astroturf football pitch for their children, as that, she says, is what his other children have at home. “I’m not a money grabber,” she insists. Instead, she explains, “It’s about all the children having the same, which they will never have, but I can try to get similarities for them. If his other children are living like that, why can’t Kairo and Kinara?
“The judge’s decision was sensationalised, like it was a huge blow to me, but in reality the difference between what I asked for and what I’m receiving is £2,250 a month. For someone who earns so much, you would’ve thought it wouldn’t be worth all the legal costs and trauma to battle this out, but I think Kyle wanted to win.” Lauryn says the whole dilemma and multiple maintenance battles have affected her mental health.
“The court process is so long, you have no idea how ill it can make you,” she says. “You have to hand over everything, your bank statements, your life, they see it all – where you’re shopping, where you’re going, what you’re doing. It’s so intrusive. It took blood, sweat and tears and it was exhausting. There were days where I would just cry my eyes out. I’d think, can I continue with this? I have to, for my children, because I’m the only one that they can depend on. But how strong does one person have to be? I can only be strong for so long. But I’ll never give up on my kids.”
Spending time with Lauryn and the children at home, it’s clear what a devoted mum she is. But there’s no question that being a single parent to two little ones has massively taken its toll. “I have mum guilt, so I kind of overcompensate,” she says, explaining how she juggles a relentless routine of activities for the kids.
“I don’t want them to feel like they’re missing out because they haven’t got a present dad to be doing these things with them. I was lucky enough to be awarded enough for, currently, 20 hours of childcare a week, which helps, of course, but with the comments I get, I think people think I have a full-time nanny. I don’t do anything for myself.
Every day of the week is taken up with an activity and, typically, always in a different direction to the other one. I want to give my children the best. They are both bilingual; they both speak Spanish. They do gymnastics, football, swimming, you name it, they do it. Kairo’s football is an hour away, he trains for an hour and it’s an hour back – and I do that three times a week. I do everything I can to make sure they’re given the best tools in life. And I just feel… how hard it is all the time.”
Lauryn explains that the biggest blow to the children is the fact that Kyle hasn’t had any contact with them for a year. The footballer had had a close relationship with Kairo, in particular, when he was young. “Kyle was emotionally involved with our children and he was physically there as well – maybe not every day, obviously, because of the distance. But if Kairo needed him, you could pick up the phone to him,” she insists. “He didn’t buy them Christmas presents. Bear in mind, he knows where they live.”
Lauryn says she’s now sought professional help to give her guidance on how to broach the subject of Kyle’s absence with Kairo and Kinara. “I’m in that transition stage at the moment where we haven’t fully crossed over to ‘the truth’,” she explains. “For the whole year it’s been very much: ‘Your dad’s playing football, he’s training.’ Then one day Kairo started crying his eyes out saying, ‘I miss my dad, I miss my dad,’ and I was saying, ‘I know you do.’ But then he started getting angry and said, ‘He’s not at football; he’s not playing today.’ I asked him how he knew and he said another child had told him that Man City weren’t playing that day. And I realised we couldn’t keep going on like that. So I have spoken to therapists and professionals about it.”
Lauryn will now navigate how to tell the children, especially given Kyle is now based in another country. “I want to speak to his school about it so that everyone’s on the same page.”
Lauryn admits that since the fallout from the affair, she has found it tough to trust people when she’s so vulnerable. She is also estranged from her sister, reality star Chloe, who previously said she had “no sympathy” for Lauryn’s situation. “When it comes to a support network, it’s my mum, my nan and grandad that I’m closest to the most,” Lauryn says, sadly. “I have a very, very small circle of friends now because when this all started happening, most of them left as they didn’t want to be seen to be associated with me because of the public backlash or they were being disloyal. And now, because of the kids, I don’t want to let many people in.”
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Lauryn, who says she’s not driven by money or lifestyle and is desperate to change the narrative surrounding her. “Everything I do is for my kids,” she says. “They are innocent and I am here, day in, day out, caring for them, making sure that they are looked after, making sure they’re loved, making sure that they’re not affected.”
Lauryn puts it down to old-fashioned misogyny and hits back at people who think Kyle is off the hook just because “he pays” for his kids.
“I’m constantly referred to as a party girl, while he’s seen as this amazing footballer,” she says. “I mean, I don’t go out. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t drink. If I’m having a party, it’s at a soft play or a football match. If I was getting the child maintenance money and I was blowing it on myself and I wasn’t looking after my kids, I’d understand it, you know? I’d think the same, but I couldn’t do any more for my kids.” She continues, “People in power, like famous footballers, they can behave however they want. And ‘it’s fine’ because he’s ‘paying’ – and this is what I find so gross about this whole situation, people saying, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, because Lauryn’s getting X amount a month.’ That shouldn’t make a difference. We can all be guilty of thinking: ‘God, we’d love to receive that a month.’ But that’s not the point of the conversation.
“It’s terrible. We don’t expect women to leave, but it’s OK if men do.” Although Annie filed for divorce last August, the couple are said to be working on their marriage now – despite pictures from last week showing Annie in Cheshire without her wedding ring. Lauryn, meanwhile, is vowing to be strong and to never to get back with Kyle even if he was single again. Instead, she is looking to the future.
“I’m just hoping to build our own life – me and the kids – so that we’re not dependent on anyone else,” she says. And how does she intend to do that? Lauryn looks over at her babies and smiles. “Watch this space.”