Frank Lampard's life "fell apart" when he lost his beloved mother Patricia, the footballer's aunt Sandra Redknapp reveals.
Writing in her new autobiography with husband Harry, When Harry Met Sandra, the mother-of-two, 75, recalls how the death of her younger sister impacted the family.
Sandra says former footballer player Frank was "absolutely devastated" by his mother's death in 2008 after a battle with pneumonia. She was aged 58.
"His relationship with fiancée Elen Rivas, mum to his two daughter Luna, 17, and Isla, 15, very sadly started to break down and they eventually split up," she says.
A year later, Sandra recalls getting a phone call "out of the blue" from Frank who tells her he has met ITV presenter Christine Bleakley - with the perceptive former hairdresser saying she instantly knew her nephew was "smitten".
And she recalls how their wedding in December 2015 was a star-studded affair, seeing the likes of Ant and Dec, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
But it was Ed Sheeran that left her lost for words when he told her he had just watched her take part on the show Mr and Mrs.
Sandra says she was deeply touched by Frank as he stood in front of the wedding party to give his speech.
"Frankie stood up and gave the most wonderful speech about his new wife," she says. "He spoke about how he missed his mum and how he wished she had met Christine.
"My eyes started to fill with tears. Looking at Christine, he told her how he could imagine them shopping together and going for afternoon tea. It is true, I could too.
"Pat wasn’t there to see her youngest child get now lives on through his daughter, who Frank and Christine chose to name after Patricia.
"I remember Frankie calling me when she was born in 2008 to tell me her name. “I love it,” I said, quite choked up. And I knew Pat would love it too."
Christine and Frank are proud parents to three-year-old Patricia and went on to welcome son Freddie last year.
Speaking about having another man in the house, Christine previously said: "Frank’s very, very used to being completely, utterly outnumbered.
"He goes to work for the male companionship and then back home it’s completely female and that’s just what it’s been for a long time. He was very excited when we found out we were having a boy.
"Having said that, we were utterly convinced we were going to have a girl. We just didn’t think boys would ever be in our world. But he just adores him, just saying the word ‘boy’ and ‘son’, it’s almost like an alien language to us."
When Harry Met Sandra is out on Thursday (September 29), £20, published by Mirror Books
