Robert Kraft’s 38-year-old girlfriend Ricki Noel Lander reportedly gave birth to a baby in secret during the fall of 2017. Kraft, the own of the New England Patriots and the MLS soccer team New England Revolution, says that the child is not his. Lander and Kraft have been dating on and off since about 2014.
Lander, 38, is 38 years younger than Kraft, 76. She is also 16 years younger than Kraft’s oldest son.
via Page Six:
There were rumors they had broken up, but we’re told dancer, model and actress Lander was in fact pregnant and wanted to stay out of the public eye. She gave birth to the child last year, multiple sources exclusively confirmed to Page Six.
Kraft, via a spokesman, told us “Last fall, Ricki Noel Lander became the proud mother of a beautiful, healthy baby. While Robert Kraft is not the biological father, he is thrilled with Ricki’s blessing of having a healthy child. With respect to her family’s privacy, we will not be commenting any further.”
One of the sources said, “Bob is fully supporting the child. There is a lot of tiptoeing around the subject at the Patriots offices. Everyone is afraid to openly talk about it.” The source added that Kraft’s four sons are anticipating that the Kraft family trust could be changed to provide for the child. In 2013, the sons asked to modify the three-decades-old family trust to give them more control over assets. The Massachusetts Supreme Court approved the move. Kraft’s spokesman also declined to comment on the trust.
Page Six also reports that Kraft is taking “full care of Ricki and the baby”, despite that it is not has.
In 1994, Kraft bought the now five-time Super Bowl Champion New Englad Patriots for $172 million in 1994. Thanks to growth of the NFL and the success of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the Patriots are now the second-most valuable NFL franchise, behind only the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots now have a reported value of nearly $3.7 billion.
In 2011, Robert Kraft’s longtime wife Myra passed away.