The warning came on Tuesday, when De Villiers broke her silence on an incident she had initially chosen to keep private.
“I wasn’t going to publicly share this but our home was burgled a few days ago and after hearing about another one since, I feel it’s important to just warn others,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories, as reported by Goal.
Neither Gibbs-White nor De Villiers were at the property when the intruders struck, and their two young sons, Greyson and Hayes, were also away. She told followers to make sure security systems were armed whether or not anyone was in the house, and to report anything suspicious.
The South African model, who has more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, closed the Instagram message by naming the thing she could not shake off.
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“It’s a horrible feeling knowing someone has violated your home, especially when you have young children,” she wrote.
A pattern that keeps catching Premier League homes
The Nottinghamshire break-in came less than a week after Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes’ £4 million Cheshire mansion was targeted. Three masked men entered the six-bedroom property in Nether Alderley at around 8.30pm on Wednesday 21 October, climbing the rear fence despite CCTV, electric gates and a zoned alarm. Fernandes was in Italy with Manchester United for their 4-1 Champions League defeat to Como, and his family were not at home. Cheshire Police said designer jewellery and other expensive items were taken.
Gibbs-White’s case now sits alongside a growing list of top-flight footballers whose homes have been raided in recent seasons, including Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, Victor Lindelof, Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba.
A warning aimed squarely at other football families
De Villiers’ decision to go public is unusual in a wave of break-ins that has mostly played out through police statements and short club acknowledgements. By speaking directly to her followers, many of them wives and partners of other players, she turned a crime report into a message to the dressing-room circle.
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The England midfielder signed a new three-year contract with Nottingham Forest in July 2025, ending speculation over a move to Tottenham, and the couple became engaged earlier the same year.
Oliver Glasner’s Forest side are back in action this weekend. Gibbs-White has not spoken publicly about the burglary.
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