[News] Rio Ferdinand’s wife, Kate reveals how she once packed out of his house as she struggled with taking care of his kids and ‘replacing’ their late mum

Kate Ferdinand, wife to Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand has revealed how she packed out of the footballer’s house after going through an “incredibly difficult time” trying to ‘replace’ his late wife and pretending to be happy while taking care of his kids.

Kate, 29, opened up about the struggle she went through after moving in with Rio and his three kids, Lorenz, 14, Tate, 12, and Tia, nine, who he shared with his late wife, who died from cancer.

While she was getting used to Rio Ferdinand recovering from his wife’s loss, he then lost his mum Janice, two years after the death of his wife. Kate has now come out to explain how it all became too much for her.

 

She told You magazine: “I cried every single day for a year when I first moved in with Rio. It was an incredibly difficult time…

“Nothing in the house was mine; everyone called it ‘Rio’s house’.

“All the photographs were of Rebecca and the children. I had no place. I remember after six months becoming obsessed with wanting Molton Brown Rhubarb & Rose soap that I always have at home, just to have a smell I knew.

 

“I bought a bottle and put it downstairs but it got taken away. As stupid as it sounds, that crushed me, but what was making me feel more isolated was if I said those things out loud people would think I was pathetic and selfish.”

 

Kate went on: “I lost myself. I felt as though I was acting all the time, trying to smile and learn to cook and be this perfect woman.

“When I’d cook something, someone would say, ‘Rebecca didn’t do it like that’, and I’d smile but inside I’d feel crushed.”

Thankfully, Kate and Rio worked things out, got married in 2019, and she now has a child for him.

She is also now a loving stepmother to the children, and the way their relationship blossomed was captured in moving BBC documentary Rio and Kate: Becoming A Step Family.

Rio, 42, credits filming the documentary for helping them work through their issues.

 

He said: “I realised that if I wanted to make it work, we needed help. And doing another documentary could help us by finding answers.”

“There ain’t no manual on how to be a step-mum,” Rio said in the doc as Kate confessed that all she wanted was for the kids to be happy.