TV personality Kate Ferdinand has described a "very scary night" at her Dubai home, as Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes across the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, following a major US-Israeli attack.
Iranian missiles targeted various countries in the region, including Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait, in response to Saturday morning's US and Israel strikes, which reportedly killed Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The 34-year-old reality TV star, who relocated to Dubai last year with her husband, former footballer Rio Ferdinand, and their young children, shared an update with her 1.4 million Instagram followers on Sunday.
She wrote: "Thank you for all of your messages and sorry for the silence, I haven’t wanted to worry you all I just haven’t been able to find the words. We are safe."
Ferdinand praised the local authorities, stating: "The government are doing an amazing job of keeping it that way and despite my nerves I feel we are in very safe hands." She expressed hope for a calmer evening, adding: "We are hoping for a calmer evening tonight, last night was very scary."
Despite the fear, she noted her children's unexpected reaction: "Although, Cree and Shae loved it as they couldn’t believe we all got a sleepover in the basement." She concluded with a message of solidarity: "Thank you for all of your prayers, this whole experience is very eye opening and I am praying for anyone affected. Lots of love to everyone."
Other British celebrities living in Dubai also shared their harrowing experiences. Former Love Island star Arabella Chi, who resides in the city with her daughter Gigi, reflected that the conflict "puts into perspective a lot of things."
The model, with 1.2 million Instagram followers, posted a video thanking supporters during "such a scary time" and recounted hearing "petrifying" explosions. Chi said: "I feel like the past 24 hours has just been something that I’ve never experienced in my life. Obviously, we are safe."
With loud booming sounds audible in the background of her video, she noted: "The bangs are obviously going off right now." She expressed relief that her daughter was too young to comprehend the situation: "Gigi is at an age where she obviously doesn’t understand what’s going on, which is a big blessing."
She added: "Last night, we literally saw (explosions) coming from not far from our house, and it was petrifying."
Former Geordie Shore personality Sam Gowland also described a sleepless night at his Dubai villa due to the "banging." In an Instagram story on Sunday, he wrote: "Wow, so scary last night. I hardly slept with all the banging." He continued: "This mornings’ wake-up call was at 7.30am with two more rockets going over my villa. Going to be a crazy day." Gowland struggled to articulate the feeling: "Can’t really tell you the feeling you get from the noises, I’ve never experienced anything like it."
He also urged online users to "think before they speak" regarding negative comments about the situation, stating: "Why would you wish any of this upon people? Let me tell you something, being here in Dubai last night and this morning was bloody scary." He concluded: "It still is now, it’s very tense. It’s very quiet. No one’s outside. I can’t really describe it, I’ve never been in any situation like this before."
Meanwhile, Petra Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 founder Bernie Ecclestone, labelled Saturday night "one of the most scary, worst nights of my life." The socialite, who had recently relocated her family from Los Angeles to Dubai, shared on Instagram: "I feel like us as a family had been through a lot recently."
She added: "We came to Dubai to feel safe, and we finally felt like we were settling in. And now this has happened, so it’s really kind of been a shocking turn of events – but thank God we are safe."
In a separate video, she highlighted the distress of her children: "I think the worst part of this is when the kids are really scared, and you obviously want to do everything to protect them, and you actually don’t know what to do." She concluded: "I don’t have the certain answers for certain things. It was terrible."
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