Nicola Bulley's daughters have heartbreakingly asked "is mummy famous" as they see the ongoing search for the mortgage adviser after 14 days.
The mum-of-two was last seen walking her dog Willow on January 27 shortly after dropping her kids off at school St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire.
She is still missing two weeks later as police have expanded their search to Morecambe Bay in hopes of finding her.
Nicola's friend Emma White said her daughters appear "deflated" every day they ask if they've found their mum.
Emma described the ongoing search as "torture" as Nicola's girls are wondering if she's now famous.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Emma said: "I think children are quite resilient aren't they, but they are obviously asking questions each day.
"You know when the girls get home from school they say 'any news on mummy?' and Paul has to say 'no'
"And you can just see the little girls just deflate and the little girls are saying 'is my mummy famous' and I didn't know how to answer that myself because it's for the wrong reasons."
Lancashire Police have said they are working on the hypothesis that fell into the river, but no trace of the mum has been found after specialists have searched a mile-long stretch of the River Wyre.
Specialist Group International chief Peter Faulding said he is "100 per cent" sure Nicola is not in the stretch of river initially suspected and his job is done.
Police have been forced to warn members of the public from taking law into their own hands when getting involved in the search, with a group last night understood to have been given a dispersal order.
Yesterday, the search moved to Morecambe Bay as two boats with specialist teams were seen in the sea.
It comes as Nicola's pal Emma White described the ongoing search as "torture" while appealing for anyone who may have seen something to come forward.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Emma said: "It is just a rollercoaster, it is almost like torture - the despair, the unimaginable frustration in the sense that everyone has come together, working so hard: the police, the community, people on the ground.
"You expect to be rewarded for when you put hard work in, so we just need something, anything, a piece of information that can lead us down a different inquiry."
Emma was asked about police being given the power to break up groups causing a nuisance in the Lancashire village, and urged visitors to stay away.
"People are offering to come and help but that's not really helping the situation," she added.
"Ultimately, we all want to bring Nikki home but we need to do it in a logical, systematic way and we have to leave it to the police."
There are at least three CCTV blind spots in the area where Nicola was last seen, raising the possibility that she could have left the area.
One spot is a path that is not covered by security cameras. It leads to Garstang Road which runs through the village.
It comes police are trying to get dashcam footage from about 700 vehicles that they have identified as passing along the main road through the village at the time Nicola vanished.
Another possible blindspot is a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586.
A camera at a house is understood to have not been working at the time, but it still doesn't cover the exit.
Friends of Nicola have also claimed the CCTV covering one of the two exits from the river near the mobile home site Rowanwater, is not working.
Police officers searching for Nicola may be tracking a "tatty-looking" red van which a witness said was parked close to the spot she disappeared.
Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham has put forward seven key questions he believes need to be answered by the Lancashire Police enquiry team.
Anyone with information which could assist our investigation should call Lancashire Police on 101 quoting log 0565 of January 30th. For immediate sightings please call 999.
