Can the power of a fresh start save the troubled marriage between cheating footballer Kyle Walker and his wronged childhood sweetheart Annie Kilner?
Kyle, 34, was this week unveiled to AC Milan fans after moving to the club on loan from Manchester City. As his boss Pep Guardiola said at the weekend: ‘He decided to leave.’
The reason, it turns out, was rooted in a desire to get away from ex-lover Lauryn Goodman, 33, and to carry on patching things up with Annie, also 33.
On Sunday afternoon in Italy, however, though the top defender wore his gold wedding band (and a thoughtful expression), there was no sign of glamorous Annie, the mother of four of his six children.
Indeed, while he was settling into a new city, staying at the Melia hotel near the San Siro stadium, Annie was recovering after a night out partying with her friends in Cheshire, wearing a glittering bikini and jeans.
She was then pictured on Tuesday 28 January, running errands near their home, with no wedding ring on.
Annie was pictured on Tuesday, running errands near their home, with no wedding ring on
At the same time her husband Kyle Walker, still wearing his gold wedding ring, was in Italy watching his new team, AC Milan
Annie is said to be thinking about an offer to appear on Celebrity Big Brother and has decided that 2025 will be the year when she starts to do things just for herself. Pictured with husband Kyle in June 2023
Annie’s said to be thinking about an offer to appear on Celebrity Big Brother and has decided that 2025 will be the year when she starts to do things just for herself – after a long period of doing everything for the sake of her children. Now that baby Rezon is getting a little older, I’m told that she thinks the time might be right.
Meanwhile reports suggest that she is ‘furious’ with Kyle and had decided not to join him at the weekend because of a blazing row – apparently over reports concerning his former lover Lauryn Goodman, by whom he has two children.
Though Goodman denies it, some have been saying she wants to follow Kyle to Italy, where the children can be nearer their father. At present, Kyle doesn’t see her or them as he is working on regaining Annie’s trust.
However, a friend says Annie’s absence at the weekend was merely a scheduling clash. Although the couple’s marriage is still very rocky – and no wonder – Annie is planning to come out to Italy with their four children and will be there soon. The friend adds: ‘There is no huge drama between them. The party was in the diary for ages.
‘Annie was torn between the two but decided to stick to her original plans as she was looking forward to it.’
She was not missing his debut for AC Milan – due to red tape over a work permit, Kyle hasn’t been able to do anything other than watch his new teammates play. It’s hoped he might make his first appearance on February 2nd, by which point Annie and their four boys may be there.
The friend adds: ‘Annie is working around kids’ school times and pre-planned events, and she will be there soon. The boys are all looking forward to it. She and the boys will always support Kyle and his career, and Italy is very much on the cards for them long-term, pending his contract with AC Milan being extended.’
The plan for now is that the family will find a house to rent in Milan, and the boys – Roman, 11, Riaan, seven, Reign, five, and Rezon, nine months – will be home schooled. If it works out for Kyle at the club, the family will look into other schooling options in Italy and at making a more permanent base in the city.
I’m told the couple have decided jointly that a move abroad could be good for them. Which makes one think that perhaps the marriage isn’t quite on its last legs just yet.
Annie spent the past weekend partying with her friends in Cheshire, wearing a glittering bikini and jeans
‘They want the marriage to work and they want to keep the family together and they think that Italy might give them that chance. They have been together since they were teenagers and don’t want to let each other go but obviously the negativity [of his ex-lover Lauryn Goodman] and constant reminders aren’t helping that,’ said a friend.
To this negativity we must add the persistent reports which suggest that the marriage is as much off as on. One told The Sun: ‘She’s sick and tired of dropping everything for Kyle and is putting her foot down. He’s flown his mates out and she’s livid.
‘He appears to be settling in very well and that’s not helping matters either. Kyle’s mum and dad are going to be in the San Siro stadium on Sunday to support him.
‘Again, she had no idea and was furious when she found out. They’re not communicating whatsoever.’
Kyle moved back into the family home in September last year after they spent some happy time over the summer on holiday as a family. The arrangement was a trial, but both have been willing to at least make an attempt at salvaging the marriage after the humiliating scandal caused by Kyle’s affairs with Goodman, resulting in their two children.
Annie kicked him out of the family home last January after Goodman messaged her to let her know that her second baby was Kyle’s.
Annie then filed for a divorce over the summer, and yet the couple spent Christmas together. At the time friends said the legal action was on hold and they were still trying to do what they could to find a path through it all as a family and a couple.
In a touching sign of togetherness, Annie proudly posted a picture of her young family and Kyle standing in front of a Christmas tree in matching pyjamas.
Meanwhile, Lauryn’s endless posting about her family situation on social media – and on a podcast – has been placing considerable strain on the Kyle’s efforts to reconcile. A friend said: ‘Her invasion of their privacy is relentless. It is a big part of their struggle to move forward.’
Last year it appeared that Lauryn was behind the leaking to a newspaper of messages about her, ex-changed between Annie and fellow WAG Becky Vardy. One of them called Lauryn a ‘slag’ and another apparently wished her dead.
Reports suggest that Annie is ‘furious’ with Kyle and had decided not to join him at the weekend because of a blazing row – apparently over reports concerning his former lover Lauryn Goodman (pictured), by whom he has two children
Annie was meant to fly out with their four children to see the England star, 34, make his debut with AC Milan. Pictured together with three of their children in 2023
A source explained that this was a private conversation which was never meant to be made public and that Annie had been simply ‘venting’ to a friend without intent or malice. Ms Vardy and Ms Goodman were in contact for a time earlier this year.
Closer to Christmas, there were reports Kyle had failed to send gifts or a card to their two children together, Kairo and Kinara, this year.
‘To leave them with nothing to open for another year is just really sad,’ an insider told a newspaper. ‘All of their mutual friends have talked to Kyle. They feel really upset for the children and for Lauryn who is always trying to do right by their kids. They were hoping Kyle would put aside his differences for the sake of the kids.’
The following day Lauryn, wearing apparently brand new £1,340 Louis Vuitton boots, stepped out with Kairo, four, and Kinara, 18 months, and the three just happened to be caught by a passing photogra-pher.
Some time earlier she had posted an exchange with a ‘fan’ on Instagram which ran: ‘Did ‘that’ even attempt to buy the kids [a present] for Christmas or even a card or does the ball and chain [Kyle’s wife Annie] not allow…’. She replied: ‘You said it.’
Tempers continue to run high between the former lovers – and Lauryn appears particularly intent on dragging Annie into the fray.
Kyle fathered Kairo with Lauryn in 2020, despite then having three children with Kilner. In 2021, he and Annie married – yet the affair with Lauryn apparently continued, at least briefly, and in August 2023, his second child with her, Kinara, was born.
Meanwhile his fourth child with Annie, baby Rezon, was born in 2024.
Annie was made aware of the paternity of Kinara via a brutal text from Lauryn on December 27th 2023: ‘Hey it’s Lauryn. I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter.’ Annie was pregnant at the time.
Lauryn is said to be ‘utterly furious’ about Christmas and about her minimal level of contact with Kyle. She is also angry at being labelled a golddigger, and about the way she is portrayed in the press. She has already hired and fired a PR.
She is also said to be fuming because Kyle remains married to Annie.
You may wonder why Kyle won’t extend some kind of olive branch to Lauryn, who has rehearsed her hurt feelings in TV and newspaper interviews, on Celebs Go Dating and on her eight-part podcast. She felt particularly hard done by after a court hearing to determine maintenance from the football super-star for Kinara in July last year.
There were reports Kyle had failed to send gifts or a card to his two children with Lauryn, Kairo and Kinara, at Christmas. Pictured: Kyle Walker in his new kit for team AC Milan
Although she came out of it with £12,500 a month, plus the £2.4 million house in Sussex bought for her and the children to live in, she was wounded by the judge’s remark that she had been treating the foot-baller, worth £27 million, like an ‘open ended chequebook’. It was during this hearing that a list of Lauryn’s demands of Kyle emerged, including the installation of a £32,000 astroturf pitch at the Sussex house and a new £30,000 car for the nanny.
The judge also said that Lauryn, who it was heard had been prosecuted previously for benefit fraud, was ‘often difficult, unreasonable and demanding’.
In a statement after the judgment, a spokeswoman for Kyle said: ‘This judgement speaks for itself in laying bare Lauryn Goodman’s insatiable greed and relentless pursuit of money. The judge made it clear: she used Kyle as an open-ended cheque book and repeatedly threatened him in order to get what she wanted. She then orchestrated a media campaign to feed intolerable and wrongful intrusion into the private lives of Kyle, Annie and their young family.’
Those feelings – of betrayal and media manipulation – have not gone anywhere, and the move to Italy could be seen as an attempt to give them some breathing space away from Goodman. Friends said: ‘It feels like Lauryn is relentless in dragging this story into the spotlight.
‘Kyle and Annie would love for things to die down. He feels that he cannot send gifts or Christmas wishes because he fears Lauryn will use any contact at all to shove herself forward in the media.
‘He wants to protect his family, and he wants to protect his relationship with Annie.’
After everything that has happened, it would be an extraordinary if Kyle were able to repair his marriage to Annie. And yet – although the omens are not completely promising – it seems neither of them are quite ready to give up on it yet.
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