Lauryn Goodman, the ex-girlfriend of England vice-captain Kyle Walker, has explained her decision to take her son to Frankfurt to watch the European Championship match, which was also attended by Walker’s wife Annie Kilner.
Manchester City star Walker, 34, apologised publicly in January when it was revealed that he had cheated on his wife, Kilner, with his ex-girlfriend Goodman, who was expecting her second child with the footballer.
Goodman shares a baby daughter and four-year-old son, Kairo, with Walker. The footballer also has four sons with his wife, Kilner, who he has been married to since 2022.
Goodman, who is a model and influencer, faced criticism from people on social media when she took Kairo to watch his father play in the England vs Denmark game in Frankfurt on Thursday (20 June), where Kilner was also in attendance.
She has since defended that decision in an interview, explaining that the motivation for the trip was to honour a “promise” that the footballer had made to Kairo on FaceTime in 2022 – when she was secretly pregnant with their second child – and he was playing at the Qatar World Cup.
She told The Daily Mail that Walker promised Kairo that he “would make sure he was at the next tournament because [Walker] is getting older, and he knew there would perhaps not be any more opportunities”.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to take Kairo to the Euros,” she continued. “There was no way I was not going to uphold the promise that Kyle made to his son. This could have been his last chance so I wanted it to be something that Kairo could remember for ever.”
Speaking ahead of the game about potential backlash to her decision, she said: “We are not here to please other people. It’s about Kairo and what is best for him and what is going to make him happy.”
She refused to be “scapegoated or bullied and made to feel like a villain”, stating that her children are her “priority”.
At the match, Kairo wore his father’s number two football jersey with the word “Daddy” printed on it. Walker’s four sons, who he shares with Kilner, similarly wore number two shirts reading “Dad”.
Walker and Kilner met 15 years ago. The footballer reportedly met Goodman while he and Kilner were on a break.
After it was revealed that Goodman was secretly pregnant with Kairo, Walker and his wife decided to stay together in Cheshire while Goodman raised her son in Hove, East Sussex.
Goodman said that her son was so “excited” to be watching his father play live for the first time.
“He’d been counting down the days,” she said of Kairo’s excitement for the game. “He was excited to go on the plane. He wouldn’t stop talking about it. He kept saying, ‘When are we going to the Euros to see Dad?’”
Asked whether she was worried about running into Kilner at the match, Goodman said she “wasn’t fearful” about bumping into one other.
“It doesn’t cross my mind, I don’t give it a thought at all. I couldn’t care less. I just get on with things,” she said. “I was there for Kairo, no one else, and if anyone has an issue with it, that’s their problem, not mine.”
