By Crystal Ugoeze
Kylian Mbappé’s mother, Fayza Lamari, has offered a rare and emotional insight into the personal sacrifices her son has made as one of the most recognisable footballers in the world.
Lamari revealed that the Real Madrid and France forward’s extraordinary fame has significantly restricted his ability to enjoy ordinary aspects of life, including relationships, driving around freely and walking in public without attracting attention.
According to her, she once asked Mbappé whether he wanted to have a girlfriend, only for the football star to respond: “Do you really see a woman in all this madness?”
The comment, she said, reflected the enormous pressure and lack of normality surrounding the 27-year-old footballer’s life.
Lamari also recalled how Mbappé would sometimes drive around the ring road in a Peugeot 206 simply to experience a sense of normality.
“He can’t even walk down the street anymore. It breaks my heart,” she said, highlighting the extent to which his fame has affected his everyday freedom.
Mbappé’s rise to global prominence began as a teenager at Monaco, where his explosive pace and goalscoring ability quickly attracted worldwide attention. He subsequently joined Paris Saint-Germain and became one of the leading figures in world football before making his long-awaited move to Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2024.
He has also enjoyed a remarkable international career with France. Mbappé played a starring role in France’s 2018 FIFA World Cup triumph as a teenager and scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina, although France eventually lost on penalties.
His success has made him one of football’s biggest commercial and sporting stars, but Lamari’s comments underline a less visible side of that success: the loss of privacy and freedom that can accompany global celebrity.
For Mbappé, ordinary activities that most people take for granted—walking down a street, meeting someone privately or simply taking a drive—can become difficult because of the constant attention surrounding him.
Lamari’s revelations therefore offer a glimpse beyond the goals, trophies and multimillion-dollar contracts, showing the human cost that can come with being at the absolute summit of world football.