KATIE HIND reveals 10 jaw-dropping facts you didn't know about the Kyle Walker and Lauryn Goodman WAG war, from other footballers the influencer's connected with on a celebrity dating app to the 'secret name she uses to sell stories'
When influencer Lauryn Goodman sent an explosive text to footballer Kyle Walker’s pregnant wife Annie Kilner informing her the England star was the father of not just her son, but also her baby daughter, the news made headlines across Britain.
Little did she know the story would still be gripping millions of people 12 months later.
‘Hey it’s Lauryn,’ she messaged Annie on December 27, 2023. ‘I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter. He’s been having a relationship with us all including the baby & I’ve got everything to prove it.’
Needless to say, the bombshell wrecked the Walker/Kilner family Christmas, blowing up their marriage and sparking the biggest off-pitch scandal of 2024.
Heartbroken Annie threw Kyle, 34, out of their £4million Cheshire mansion, and Lauryn hoped she had a chance of starting a proper life with the Manchester City captain and their two children, Kairo, now four, and Kinara, now one.
It seems she’s been disappointed though - with news emerging last week that Kyle failed to buy Christmas presents for either of their children.
Surprise, surprise, the story played out in the press with both parties briefing furiously against the other.
On Wednesday, Kyle and Annie made sure the world knew that they are trying to make their relationship work by posting a picture of themselves and their four children dressed in matching black-and-white checked pyjamas on Christmas Day at their home.
Lauryn has two children with Manchester City and England star Kyle Walker - a son, Kairo, born in April 2020, and a daughter, Kinara, born in August 2023
Kyle and wife Annie posted a picture of themselves and their four children dressed in matching black-and-white checked pyjamas on Christmas Day
Friends of the couple say they had a ‘really lovely family Christmas’, but even more gory details of their ongoing feud have since come out.
Here we reveal ten jaw-dropping facts we didn’t know about the Lauryn/Kyle/Annie love triangle...
1: Lauryn cuts out stories about her and Kyle
Lauryn keeps many of the newspaper stories about her fallout with Kyle, storing them in a ‘collection box’ to show her children when they are older.
‘It all seems very strange,’ says one source close to Lauryn. ‘She says she hates what is written about her and their kids, yet she has her own cuttings file.
‘She wants to be able to show them parts of their lives they won’t remember, and make sure they know their mummy stuck up for them against their dad.’
2: Lauryn could have been Kyle and Annie's neighbour
Annie was devastated when Lauryn wound up Kyle by appearing to house-hunt near the Walkers’ Cheshire home.
In an attempt to get the maintenance she thought she deserved from Kyle, Lauryn - with photographers in tow - was seen looking at homes in the area in April 2021, prompting fears they would soon be neighbours.
‘Lauryn isn’t stupid, she decided to put the wind up Kyle and showed him what things could be like if she decided to uproot.’
I’m told that Kyle quickly capitulated and paid Lauryn what she wanted.
3: Kyle pays Lauryn £140,000 a year tax free
Lauryn has made a pretty penny out of having Kyle’s children - in fact, sources close to the situation say that she receives £140,000 tax free in maintenance payments each year from the footballer.
Heartbroken Annie threw Kyle, 34, out of their £4million Cheshire mansion after Lauryn sent her bombshell message last Christmas about him being the father of their daughter
Lauryn lives in a £2.4 million house in Sussex which Kyle bought for her to live in. While the star still owns the property, Kairo will be given a percentage of its worth when he turns 18.
Lauryn attempted to get daughter Kinara the same stake but Kyle refused. ‘He got fed up with her financial demands,’ says the source.
Kyle also bought Lauryn a while Mercedes SUV at a cost of £51,000.
4: They hired the same PRs as Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney
For at least a year, Lauryn was represented by Rebekah Vardy’s publicist Caroline Watt.
The PR was famously mentioned in the High Court during the Wagatha Christie trial in 2022 for losing her phone, which may have contained key evidence in the libel trial between Vardy and Coleen Rooney. She claimed she dropped it in the North Sea.
Caroline managed Lauryn on and off after she gave birth to Kairo, but decided to take a step back for good when Annie and Kyle hired Rachel Monk – Coleen’s PR – at the beginning of 2024.
‘Caroline didn’t fancy going up against Rachel again,’ her friend tells me. ‘The whole Wagatha Christie case destroyed her and it would have been utterly triggering for her to have found herself involved with the same people once again, so she decided to pass the baton on and no longer look after Lauryn.’
In another twist, Caroline Watt used to be close to Annie after being introduced by Vardy.
5: Lauryn's sister Chloe introduced her to Kyle
Lauryn first met Kyle in a London nightclub during a night out with her sister Chloe.
Chloe, who was friends with Kyle, introduced them and has remained loyal to the England footballer, occasionally taking his side in fallouts between the star and Lauryn.
Chloe Goodman (left), who introduced Lauryn to Kyle, lives on the same street as her sister
‘You have to wonder if Chloe feels a little guilty about introducing them,’ says a source. ‘They were out, Lauryn was keen to be a WAG and then they got talking.
‘But Chloe has never automatically taken Lauryn’s side, in fact she thinks a lot of her sister’s behaviour has been unacceptable.’
She and Chloe live on the same street in Sussex, along with their father, whom Lauryn has also fallen out with.
6: They don't talk - and communicate through lawyers
Despite their lives being played out in the media for the past 12 months, Lauryn and Kyle are thought not to have spoken directly in that time. Instead they communicate through their lawyers.
‘There is some pure hatred there,’ says a source familiar with the scandal. ‘Kyle is absolutely furious with Lauryn – there are children involved and their lives have been thrown into the limelight. He literally cannot stand to talk to her.’
Of course they did meet at the Central Family Court in London last July, when they clashed over child maintenance payments, but few words were uttered.
7: Lauryn's hoping to get on Celebrity Big Brother
Lauryn is desperate to keep her name in the headlines by appearing on TV shows such as Dancing On Ice or I’m A Celebrity.
After seeing other WAGs raise their profiles this way, she has been keen to contact production staff in a bid to get signed up.
She also recently hired former jungle star Nicola McLean, once a Page 3 girl, to help get her on to the forthcoming Celebrity Big Brother. Nicola is said to be hopeful, but I’m told by well-placed sources at ITV that they are not so enthusiastic.
8: Lauryn scouts for footballers on dating app Raya
While Lauryn has seemingly wanted to win Kyle back, she has also been scouting around for other high-profile men on the exclusive dating app, Raya.
There, I’m told she has come into contact with other top footballers while they have been single. One was Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The mum-of-two also came into contact with a young Chelsea player. ‘Lauryn goes on there from time to time,’ says a friend. ‘Raya is exclusive and attracts rich and famous men, so perhaps that is to be expected.’
9: Lauryn bans friends and family from taking photos
Lauryn has an exclusive deal with a leading paparazzi firm, setting up photo opportunities when she is out with her children.
The pictures are then sold on to newspapers and websites, and she receives a percentage of the fee – I’m told around 80 per cent.
Her photography deals include a series of pictures outside the Frankfurt stadium where England took on Denmark in the Euros last summer, as well as a shopping trip near her Sussex home last April. And in August she was seen shopping in Brighton with her children.
Lauryn is so adamant that only her paparazzi associates snap her and her children that she bans any family and friends from taking their own photos.
10: Lauryn wheels and deals under a pseudonym
In an attempt to stay anonymous, Lauryn is rumoured to use the pseudonym ‘Catherine Rowland’ to email media organisations offering information in exchange for substantial sums.
A pal of Lauryn’s says: ‘She has all these other accounts that she uses under different names – and pretends she is an agent or a representative of some sort – but it’s just her.
‘She’s constantly trying to wheel and deal behind the scenes – sometimes to improve her own image.’
