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UPDATE: Mr. Kraft is NOT the Baby's Father

SourceNew England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has just confirmed reports that his 38-year-old girlfriend gave birth to a secret baby — but he insists he’s NOT the daddy!

Ricki Noel Lander gave birth to the kid back in 2017 but nobody knew about it until Page Six broke the story Wednesday evening. It seemed 76-year-old Kraft was the father since they’ve been dating for about 5 years.

But, Kraft’s reps just issued a “Billy Jean”-style statement saying — the kid is not my son.

“Last fall, Ricki Noel Lander became the proud mother of a beautiful, healthy baby,” the rep said.

“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.”

Well there ya go. If Mr. Kraft and his lovely girlfriend Ricki did bring a child into this world, I would’ve been the first to celebrate. Not only because I’ve had the pleasure of meeting them and they are a wonderful couple in a committed and loving relationship that any child would be lucky to be born into. But also because it would give all men hope that life does not end in your 70s. Hell, whatever the RKK 76 Method is, you can sign me up five minutes ago.

But this is not that. It is something just as beautiful, though. A man helping the woman he cares about to support the child he no doubt loves as much as if it were his own. Think Ned Stark and Jon Snow. And in a world where so many men run from their own obligations, it’s admirable beyond words that a man would care for a child that is not his obligation, just out of a sense of kindness and because it’s the right thing to do.

I’ll leave it to others to speculate about the personal life of this nice family. I don’t do the gossip thing about personal friends of mine. It’s against my moral code. Instead I’ll just say, Mr. Kraft: Business mogul. Visionary. Dynasty builder. Friend of celebrities and world leaders alike. And now, we can add the noble and altruistic title of Surrogate Dad. He’s a better man that we even realized. And continues to win on the field, in the boardroom, and life in general.

Me and Mr. Kraft

 @jerrythornton1