Family holidays can be a testing time for relationships. Divorce lawyers tend to note that, once the summer ends, business picks up. Seeing one’s spouse up close for a prolonged period can, it seems, make some reach for the decree nisi.
But in the case of footballer Kyle Walker and his greatly-betrayed wife Annie, the opposite has been the case.
Shortly after the end of the Euros in July, Kyle and Annie took their four sons to the all-inclusive luxury Regnum Carya resort near Antalya in Turkey. There, the pair and their children – Roman, 11, Riaan, seven, Reign, five, and Rezon, born in April – enjoyed the white sand beaches, and walks in the on-site pine forest.
Shortly after the end of the Euros in July, Kyle Walker and Annie Kilner took their four sons to the all-inclusive luxury Regnum Carya resort near Antalya in Turkey
Kyle had moved out of the family home in January, after it emerged he had fathered two children by on-off lover Lauryn Goodman (pictured)
Presumably, Kyle may have taken his sons for a kick-about on the hotel’s FIFA standard football pitches.
Such family time is, perhaps, not what one would expect considering that Kyle had moved out of the family home in January, after it emerged he had fathered two children by on-off lover Lauryn Goodman.
That wasn’t the last of it though – on their return, the family of six then went away together again.
This time, they chose an upmarket caravan park in Abersoch, Wales, where Kyle, 34, played football on the beach with the children and they had a simple BBQ celebration for Annie’s 32nd birthday.
Then, in mid-August – even as former lover Lauryn signed up for yet more time in the spotlight on E4’s Celebs Go Dating, for a reported £55,000 fee, on top of the £150,000 a year she is getting from Kyle to support her children – the Walker family quietly returned to Cheshire.
And – despite reports that Kyle remained banished from the £3 million marital home in Prestbury – he actually, equally quietly, moved back into it.
As this newspaper revealed on Wednesday, the estranged couple are now one month into the experiment in re-heating the marital souffle, and all seems well.
Back in August, the couple were seen on the beach in Abersoch, north Wales, as they celebrated Annie’s 31st birthday. Kyle brought a huge barbeque onto the sand via a quad bike and set up a dining area using wind shieldsÂ
Sources close to them explain that they are both committed to mending the marriage, and having him under the same roof is the ‘first step’ towards that happening.
After Annie experienced such public humiliation at the hands of her cheating husband, one can’t help but wonder how they are managing such a formidable task.
However, it seems that the rules Annie has set for her husband are relatively simple.
The paramount rule – an unbreakable one – is an agreement that neither Kyle nor Annie will engage in any way with Lauryn Goodman or her children.
This isn’t just a matter of trust, but also, as we shall see, a response to Lauryn’s behaviour, particularly online, which has been distressing for the couple and for their children.
Neither Kyle nor Annie follow her on social media, and friends are asked not to repeat the stories she rehearses on her social media channels, or on television or in other interviews.
I’m told the pair are both sick of her, and of the drama she generates.
And while both Kyle and Annie’s wider families hope that they can reconcile in entirety, there hasn’t been any pressure from parents or siblings.
Instead, it’s been very simple. I’m told by one close to them that ‘they have spent the whole summer with the children and at the end of it they realised that they didn’t want to split the family again.
‘He has to earn Annie’s trust and she is clear that has not happened yet, but she is letting him live with them again. They are just making the children the priority. It’s just a question of him being there, and being there, and being there.
‘They are taking it slowly and aren’t fully reconciled but they are under the same roof. They are taking it slowly to see how Annie feels.’
Fascinatingly, there’s been no therapy or couples’ counselling. Neither are there curfews or other demands about public behaviour. Says the source: ‘He’s not really changing his lifestyle beyond making sure that he focuses only on family and football.’
A friend said: ‘Their family is the centre of both of their lives. They are not sure at this point if they can work it out but they want to give it the best chance of working.
‘They don’t want the kids to come from a broken home and they have been together since they were 16 years old, so they are each other’s worlds.
‘Annie is very protective of the boys and doesn’t want to get a divorce. Kyle wants to be home with Annie and the children.
‘They are not back together in the sense that all is forgiven and forgotten but they are physically living in the same place and trying to work out a path through it all.’
The source adds: ‘Before this he was going to the house every night to be there for bedtime with the kids so this is not radically different in some ways but it does feel like a significant step.
‘It would be a push, though to say that he and Annie have worked out their issues, as there is still much to be done.’
A friend said: ‘Annie is very protective of the boys and doesn’t want to get a divorce. Kyle wants to be home with Annie and the children
It’s a surprising twist to what looked like just another tale of Premier League infidelity, which began back in 2019 when, during a temporary split from Annie, his childhood sweetheart, Kyle had a fling with pouty influencer Lauryn – who then became pregnant with son Kairo.
However, shortly afterwards, Kyle and Annie got back together and subsequently married.
But in the winter of 2022, Kyle and Lauryn met again. The following summer, his only daughter, Kinara was born.
There were rumours about the paternity of the baby – fuelled by Lauryn’s ‘KW’ necklace and multiple social media hints.
On December 27 last year – knowing Annie was pregnant with the couple’s fourth child, and that her husband was away from home playing football, Lauryn messaged her with bombshell news, writing: ‘Hey it’s Lauryn I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter.’
Annie responded by throwing Kyle out of the family home. Lauryn gave an interview confirming he was the father of both children before Kyle told his side of the story, saying he had made ‘stupid choices’ and mistakes. He begged to be forgiven.
The England defender and Manchester City right back insisted there was ‘no relationship’ with Lauryn, although he admitted she ‘was a friend for a long time’.
Documents produced for a court case in July over Lauryn’s demands for increased child maintenance rapidly became infamous – among her wish-list was £32,000 for astroturfing part of the garden at the £2.4million house in Sussex Kyle had bought for her, to encourage her daughter’s footballing prowess. The judge, unimpressed, denied Lauryn the £350,000 a year she had asked for.
You might imagine that, with the court case over, hostilities would cease between the two sides.
That, though, has not been the case. Lauryn, who makes a living as an influencer, continues to post on social media, much of it about her children. This summer, her output has also included a significant amount about the alleged shortcomings of Kyle and wife Annie.
Annie, says Lauryn, has posted about ‘so many untruths’ when writing about the court case. When asked if Annie was an innocent party, Lauryn wrote: ‘I don’t really think she is.’ She has quoted followers who have called her former lover a ‘scumbag of a man.’Â
And during the July maintenance hearings, it was revealed that Lauryn – living in a multi-million pound home Walker bought for her in Sussex – had befriended a neighbour of Kyle and Annie in Cheshire and sent her a text message asking the woman to film the couple in the garden on her mobile phone. A text was read out which ran: ‘Wait until they argue. Get some letters together. Finish them.’
So extensive and virulent is Lauryn’s commentary that the Walkers now have a legal team who monitor everything she says online. They may yet decide to launch a civil suit for harassment against her, and there was a high-level meeting among their advisers to that end last month.
The Walkers now have a legal team who monitor everything Lauryn Goodman says online
The decision was to wait – for now – but it’s a decision that remains under review. The pair want to wait to see if things settle down without taking action.
Lauryn, meanwhile, is in the habit of hinting at the prospect of ‘proof’ of wrongdoings by Kyle. Some deplore the extent to which she shares details online of the lives of her children. This recently extended to videoing son Kairo apparently cuddling a picture of his absent father.
Some believe Lauryn’s ultimate aim is to cause enough upset to split Kyle and Annie for good.
But I’m told that Annie wasn’t in the slightest bit upset by the publication of pictures last month which showed Kyle in the park playing with Kairo, as she knew already that he had met the boy back in September last year.
What was more interesting for Annie, however, was to see that Kyle clearly had his wedding ring on during the meeting.
For now, Lauryn remains in the public eye via the Celebrities Go Dating. Judging by the reaction on the show’s Facebook page, Lauryn is wildly unpopular with some viewers. On screen so far, the show has made for some very awkward viewing, with prospective lovers appearing uninterested in her.
Meanwhile the comments online about her have been vicious. Surely this cannot be the future which Lauryn, who appears vulnerable at times, was hoping for. On screen she has wept and said she is finding it ‘really hard’ and ‘really awkward’ to try to start afresh as a single mother. But, truly, considering all that has already occurred, how else might this end?
