Euro-winning Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps has named her son Xander after becoming a mother for the first time, having revealed this week that her partner has given birth to a baby boy.
Earps, 33, was a hero of England‘s Euro 2022 victory at Wembley and starred at the World Cup in 2023, saving a penalty in the final. She won BBC Sports Personality of the Year but later lost her England place to rival Hannah Hampton and retired in acrimonious circumstances.
She moved to France with Paris Saint-Germain but returned to England earlier this year – and has now welcomed her first child with her partner, Kitty Forrest.
‘Welcome to the world, Xander,’ she posted on Instagram, with a photograph of her newborn’s hand.
In a video released on Friday, Earps said: ‘I’ve been keeping a little secret from you all. And I don’t think I can talk my way out of this one. So, I think I’m going to have to show you.
‘I can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but yesterday Kitty and I welcomed our beautiful baby boy into the world!
‘We’re absolutely over the moon and still trying to take it all in. It’s been such an emotional journey getting to this point, and we couldn’t be more excited to start this next chapter of our lives as a family of three.’
Mary Earps has revealed the name of her baby boy following his secret birth: Xander
Earps and her partner Kitty revealed news of welcoming a baby boy (YouTube/Mary Earps)
Earps says she will not be able to take maternity leave due to the rigors of the football season. Her team, London City Lionesses, are eight games into the new Women’s Super League season and sit third behind Chelsea and Manchester City.
‘I do have one eye sort of on football, which is super weird,’ she said.
‘In any other job, you would just be like, “Okay, bye. Taking maternity leave, whatever. Um, and you just do what you need to do.” But that doesn’t really work in football, because you’ve got games and then, if you take the day off, then you got to think about what that looks like and how that works into sort of your training schedule and the fixture calendar.
‘So, it’s a little bit more complicated. You can’t just take annual leave whenever you want without consequence. You know, it’s going to be interesting to see what the next days and weeks bring.’
Earps first revealed that she was in a same-sex relationship in September of last year but largely kept partner Kitty out of the spotlight.
Kitty is a physiotherapist who worked as the lead in her department at Manchester United Women, Earps’s former club.
Earps is pictured kissing the trophy after England won Euro 2022 at Wembley Stadium
Earps won BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2023 following her Euro heroics
In a statement at the time, Earps said: ‘I’ve always tried to keep my personal life separate from my professional one, but it would have felt inauthentic not to include something so important to me in this book. I’m in a really happy relationship.
‘The people closest to me have always known, and I feel ready and happy to share that with everyone else now.’
Earps retired from England duty in May last year after the release of her autobiography dragged up a storm with Hampton, the Chelsea goalkeeper who overtook her from understudy to become England No 1.
Earps revealed she told Sarina Wiegman that ‘bad behaviour was being rewarded’ after Hampton was recalled to the England squad.
