When Lauryn Goodman signed up to appear on a celebrity dating show, its producers wanted to unveil the real person behind the eight months of headlines as one of Britain’s most talked about women of 2024.
Bosses of Channel 4 programme Celebs Go Dating, which launched last week, also wanted to hear what Lauryn herself considered her ‘perfect match’, following her disastrous fling with married footballer, Kyle Walker.
Only it appears that anyone hoping to win the affections of Lauryn, who has two children with Walker, could find the £160,000-a-week footballer a tough act to follow.
For friends of the 33-year-old influencer say she is still holding out for him, despite having her reputation dragged through the mud in a bruising Central Family Court battle with him earlier this summer.
Celebs Go Dating Press, Lauryn (centre right) with Helen Flanagan, Chris Taylor, Ella Morgan, Stephen Webb, Tristan Phipps and Jamelia
Lauryn (centre) was offered £15,000 to appear on the reality series but she scoffed at the fee and demanded £80,000
In fact, it’s said that Lauryn is struggling to move on from Kyle, and actively dreaded going on the dates, which will be aired on the programme early next month.
‘Lauryn has little interest in getting a boyfriend on Celebs Go Dating,’ a friend said. ‘Kyle is on her mind so much that it is probably very difficult to even consider another relationship.
‘She would say, “Oh no! I have got to go and meet this guy. He’s nice but I don’t want to go out with him”.’
Friends say they fear she remains ‘obsessed’ with Kyle, who is the father of her four-year-old son Kairo and one-year-old daughter Kinara.
‘Lauryn still talks about Kyle all the time. You get the impression that she is still so hopeful that she can have her happy-ever-after with him despite all that has gone on. She says they share a bond, a trauma bond.
‘Put it this way, if he split up with Annie and said he was coming round to hers she would be standing at the window excitedly waiting for him to pull up.’
A case of wishful thinking?
Last Tuesday, Kyle, 34, attended the glamorous PFA (Professional Footballers Awards) night, without Annie, his childhood sweetheart, and mother of his other four children.
Dressed in a black suit and £60 Converse trainers, Kyle kept his left hand stuffed in his pocket, so it was hidden from view in photographs, making it impossible to see if he was wearing his wedding ring – or not.
It is thought that instead of accompanying her husband, Annie had chosen instead to jet out to Portugal to make the most of the last few days of the summer holidays before her three eldest boys return to school.
Nevertheless, following the event there was much speculation about the state of the Walker marriage.
While friends want the couple to get their relationship back on track, they are unsure whether Kyle’s past misdemeanours will make that possible.
One source said: ‘Too much has happened for it to be easy for anyone to forgive. You never know, there might be a space for Lauryn in his life one day, though it’s unlikely he will want to take her up on it.’
Lauryn’s date on the show will be screened early next month
It’s said that Lauryn is struggling to move on from Kyle, and actively dreaded going on the dates
The sorry sequence of events began in 2019 when, while on a break from Annie, Kyle got Lauryn pregnant with Kairo. He and Annie then got back together shortly afterwards and married in 2022.
But in the winter of 2022 Lauryn was once again pregnant by Kyle and, the following summer, his only daughter was born.
On December 27 last year she then messaged Annie with a bombshell: ‘Hey it’s Lauryn I just wanted to quickly tell you that Kyle is the father of our daughter.’
Annie threw Walker out of the family home two weeks later.
Kyle then told his side of the story in a newspaper interview, profusely apologising to his childhood sweetheart who was pregnant with their fourth child at the time.
He described his relationship with Lauryn as involving ‘stupid choices’ and ‘mistakes’.
That provoked Lauryn to hit back, saying that his words were ‘unimaginably cruel’ on her children, prompting a very public row, which saw the Walkers hiring a PR to brief the media following the fall out.
Annie supported her husband as he played for England at the Euros in Germany in June, flying out with their sons on a private jet, although it’s said Kyle has still not been welcomed back into the family’s £3.5 million mansion in Cheshire.
Lauryn also took Kairo to watch his father play in Germany, despite Kyle’s very public declaration that he does not have – and probably never will have – any relationship with either of his children with her.
Days after England’s defeat in the Euros, Lauryn and Kyle came face to face in a bitter confrontation at the High Court, where maintenance payments for Kairo and Kinara were hammered out.
After an unprecedented ruling by the judge, reporting restrictions were lifted meaning the jaw-dropping details and staggering amounts of money involved were laid bare.
They included the £2.4million Sussex house Walker bought Lauryn, who also demanded a £33,000 air conditioning system because she said house got so hot in the summer, and a £31,000 astro turf pitch for Kinara who, Lauryn claimed in court, was already showing promise as a footballer despite being only one. Walker had refused these requests, and they were also deemed ‘neither necessary nor reasonable’ by Judge Edward Hess.
Lauryn’s demands led to her being lambasted for using Walker as an ‘open ended cheque book’.
It was also disclosed in court that Lauryn was so obsessed with Kyle and Annie’s marriage that she tried to enisted the help of his next door neighbour to spy on them over the garden fence, and record them rowing.
But if everyone – in particular the Walkers – thought that was the last they would see of Lauryn, they were very wrong.
Earlier this year, she had signed up for Celebs Go Dating, where single celebrities join an exclusive dating agency in a bid to find true love. Matchmakers pair them with non-celebrity partners and the cameras capture every romantic or cringe-filled moment.
Her date will be screened early next month, but it seems she ruffled plenty of feathers on set with her demands.
I can reveal that Lauryn, 33, was offered £15,000 to appear on the reality series alongside the likes of former Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan and pop singer Jamelia.
However, she scoffed at the fee and demanded £80,000 for her services. Bookers refused and went back with a £50,000 offer. Lauryn eventually got her fee upped to £55,000 but demanded she have a chauffeur during filming. She did though relent and use the train sometimes.
Kyle Walker heading to the Central Family Court battle earlier this summer, where Lauryn had her reputation dragged through the mud
Walker with Annie, his childhood sweetheart, and mother of his other four children – there is now speculation about the state of their marriage
Friends say they fear Lauryn remains ‘obsessed’ with Kyle, who is the father of her four-year-old son Kairo (pictured) and one-year-old daughter Kinara
As for her time on the programme, bar Helen with whom I understand she has become close friends, she won few fans.
One fellow contestant tells me: ‘Lauryn didn’t understand how television works, why she had to be there all day. She thought she was a star and better than everyone else. It was something to behold really. She only joins the series half way through and she just wasn’t a team player.
‘Some working on the show took the view that Lauryn was somewhat of a diva.’
And it appears she and matchmaker Anna Williamson failed to see eye to eye after meeting on the show.
In fact, Anna – a television presenter and author – was seen looking ‘emotional’ around Lauryn. At one point she was seen on set in tears.
Anna was then absent from the launch party at members club Soho House in London, leading Lauryn’s co-stars to speculate whether it was connected to their tricky relationship.
‘Anna is loved by the contestants,’ said one show insider. ‘She is a really good egg, kind and a real expert in love but she was more down than usual in this series.’
Lauryn’s taste of television fame has given her more ideas, however, meaning that Kyle may never safely turn on his TV again.
I’m told she has her sights firmly set on ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here and has been asking anyone she knows if they can put her forward for it or have contact numbers so she can call herself.
So far, ITV bosses are said to be ‘horrified’ at the idea of her appearing on the programme.
But let’s not forget Lauryn’s determination to get what she wants.
So watch out Kyle… and Australia!