Kate Ferdinand has made the frank admission that she felt like Rio Ferdinand's "side chick" before the pair tied the knot.
The former TOWIE star, 31, and former England footballer, 42, first started dating in 2017 two years after his late wife Rebecca Ellison died of breast cancer at the age of 35.
And she has admitted the tough start she had in the relationship before revealing she now feels "secure" with their family life.
Kate now co-parents Rio's three children he has with Rebecca; Lorenz, 14, Tate, 12, and Tia, 10.
The pair also have a two-year-old son together and are currently expecting baby number two - a baby girl.
Speaking about her role as mum and step-mum, she revealed she loves all the kids "exactly the same" and said she had "worked so hard for their love", meaning it's "extra special" to be loved back by her step-kids.
But she confessed it hasn't always been plain sailing and said she was sometimes mistaken for Rio's late wife in the early days.
Speaking to The Sun, Kate said this made her feel "like a side chick".
And when speaking on her Blended podcast, the pair discussed her still being mistakenly called by Rio's late wife's name.
"I'm secure but what used to happen is I was dating you, we might have been engaged but I wasn’t your wife," Kate said. "So whenever you talk about your wife everyone would say Rebecca."
She added: "I kind of felt like I was this side woman, I felt like a bloody good side chick looking after your three kids. Everyone was saying your wife, your wife, your wife.
"Now I am your wife, I feel very secure and yeah the wedding changed a lot for me so I can deal with things like now."
Rio apologised to Kate in the podcast for any time in which he seemingly didn't think about her feelings, saying he was "in a bubble" when the pair first got together.
With Kate and Rio expecting their second child together, the former reality TV star admits she has already chosen the tot's name.
She confessed it's a name that the older kids of the family initially picked out before Cree was born.
"We had another name for Cree - a unisex one - and we think that might be the baby's name," she told The Sun.
