No one can say Annie Kilner didn’t try to make her marriage work. But ten months after being blindsided by yet another of husband Kyle Walker’s betrayals, the WAG has decided enough is enough and filed for divorce.
According to insiders, the decision was not one she took lightly – but after spending the best part of the last year trying to find a way forward with Kyle for the sake of their four children, she’s realised the love and trust are gone. Now, she’s finally ready to put herself first – as well as readying herself for battle as they fight over his £27million fortune.
‘Annie has been through hell,’ says an insider close to the 31 year old, who reportedly served Kyle, 34, with divorce papers earlier this month. ‘Over the past few months, what’s really driven her is the sense of wanting to regain control of her life and find some happiness – something she feels that Kyle has robbed her of. She’s heartbroken by what he put her through.’
The writing initially seemed to be on the wall for Annie and Kyle just after Christmas last year, after she discovered that her husband had fathered a second child with influencer Lauryn Goodman. In January, Annie told her followers she had ‘decided to take some time away from Kyle’ following the bombshell news, which came while she was heavily pregnant.
Kyle eventually returned to the family home, and his wife reportedly did her best to move on from his infidelity. But since Kyle and Lauryn went to court in a legal battle over child support for their two children, Kairo, four, and Kinara, one, our sources say Annie can no longer handle the loss of trust, or Lauryn’s constant outbursts against her.
Having previously forgiven Kyle – after he first allegedly cheated on her in 2019 with reality star Laura Brown, and then conceived his first child with Lauryn while he and Annie were on a trial separation – she’s now reached her limit.
‘The last time Kyle was caught cheating, Annie was totally broken,’ says our source. ‘All that mattered to her was to fix things between them to make it work, because she didn’t believe she would be happy without him. This time, Kyle had been begging her to let him come back home, and she made the decision for the sake of the boys and to give herself a little breathing space with the new baby. But she recently admitted to friends that she’d realised the love had died.’
The source continues, ‘She doesn’t trust Kyle any more, and doesn’t think she ever will. She’s not convinced that he won’t do something like this again. Also, for the first time, Annie feels that she doesn’t need him to be happy.’
We’re told that Annie is starting to feel stronger in herself and more capable of doing things alone, and she’s relying on the support of family and friends to get her through the transition. One particular source of strength has been fellow WAG Coleen Rooney, who knows what it’s like to weather the storm of a public cheating scandal. We’re told it was Coleen who encouraged Annie to bide her time and not do anything rash, but also told her not to stay stuck in an unhappy marriage.
‘Coleen has been amazing throughout all of this, as she’s been through similar situations,’ we’re told. ‘She’s been encouraging Annie to be emotionally strong and focus on herself and her wellbeing. It really helped her figure out what was important to her in life. That’s how she’s gotten through it all, and found this new sense of strength and purpose she never fought she’d find. Annie’s now ready to start a new chapter in life.’