Manchester City’s Kyle Walker has asked the media to end their “harassment” of him and his family for the sake of his mental health after AGAIN being caught flouting UK lockdown rules to collect home-cooked meals.
The England international received a scornful backlash when he again disregarded lockdown to travel to Sheffield on Wednesday to visit his sister and parents to chat, hug and collect home-cooked food.
It’s the second time the 29-year-old defender has defied lockdown rules. He was earlier forced to released a video apology after he was caught out hosting a sex party with a friend and two call girls in his luxury flat.
Despite taking responsibility for his actions, Walker has laid some of the blame with the media and called on them to end their ‘harassment’ of him for the sake of his family, children and mental health, claiming that he no longer feels safe in his own home in a statement published on Twitter on Friday.
“I have recently gone through one of the toughest periods of my life, which I take full responsibility for. However, I now feel as though I am being harassed,” Walker wrote.
“This is no longer solely affecting me, but affecting the health of my family and young children too. In relation to the events on Wednesday, I travelled to Sheffield to give my sister a birthday card and present, but also to speak to one of the few people I believe I can trust in my life.
pic.twitter.com/Yc0H3iCYal
“She hugged me to remind me how much she cares and that I am loved. What am I meant to do – push her away?”
Despite families in the UK being forced to spend extended periods of time apart as the UK death toll from coronavirus recently became the highest in Europe with over 30,000 confirmed fatalities, Walker attempted to reason that his loved ones were simply trying to comfort him through a ‘tough time’.
“I then travelled to my parents’ house to pick up some home-cooked meals. Again, it’s been an extremely tough couple of months for them: everything I’ve gone through in my life they have gone through with me,” Walker continued.
READ MORE: Not your average goalie: Meet Mikayla Demaiter, the ‘world’s hottest hockey player’ (PHOTOS)
“What have my parents and sister done to deserve their privacy being invaded by photographers following me to their homes? I constantly feel as though I am being followed. I don’t even feel safe in the confines of my own home – why should they have to feel like that too? Who deserves that?
?? #StayHomeSaveLives
“I am in a privileged position as a role model and a professional athlete, and can assure you from my upbringing that I do not take it for granted. But at what stage do my feelings get taken into consideration?
“My family has been torn apart, this has been dragged through the press, and I ask: when is enough enough?
“At a time when the focus is understandably on Covid-19, at what point does mental health get taken into consideration, an illness which affects every sufferer differently? I am a human being, with feelings of pain and upset just like everybody else.
“Being in the public eye as a professional athlete does not make you immune to this. It is sad, but I feel as though my life is being scrutinised without any context. I understand if people are upset or angry with me, but it was important for people to have a better understanding of my life.”
Walker apologized last month for enlisting the services of 21-year-old local escort Louise McNamara and a 24-year-old Brazilian call girl for an orgy at his plush apartment in Cheshire.
The £150,000-a-week (US$185,000) full-back later said: “I want to apologize to my family, friends, football club, supporters and the public for letting them down.”
