The wife of former footballer Rio Ferdinand has opened up on the emotional moment she "sobbed" after not being acknowledged on Mother's Day in the early stages of hers and Rio's relationship.
Kate, 31, who is pregnant with the pair's second child, recalled in an episode of her podcast Blended, which discusses and celebrates blended families, how she'd felt heartbroken when Mother's Day came around and she'd not been presented with a card from her husband, despite feeling like she'd "taken on the mum role" to his three children.
Rio and Kate met in 2016 through mutual friends while on holiday in Dubai and began dating some months later. In 2019 they got married and Kate, quitting her role on television in The Only Way Is Essex, became a full-time stepmother to Rio and his late wife's three children - Lorenz, 16, Tate, 14, and 11-year-old Tia.
The 44-year-old tragically lost his first wife, Rebecca, to cancer in 2015 just five weeks after her devastating diagnosis. Now, years later, Kate - as reported by The Mirror - keeps her memory alive and makes it clear that the children's mum is "irreplaceable". She said previously: "We always celebrate Rebecca's birthday, we all go to cemetery together. We do talk about their mum, I know a lot more about her than they think."
However, recalling her first Mother's Day with her blended family, Kate told Rio on the podcast, reports The Mirror, of the tearful moment she wasn't acknowledged for being a stepmother: "I wasn't a biological mum. I think it was our first Mother's Day - maybe I'd been living here about six months, something like that.
"And although I wasn't a biological mum I kind of felt like I'd taken on the mum role. For me, going from living at home on my own to taking the kids to school, cooking them dinner, I felt like a mum."
Kate added, speaking to her husband: "I really thought I might get a card from you, and I didn't get a card from you. I felt bad to express that in front of you because you guys had lost your mum [Rio's mum and his wife], and the kids had lost their mum. So I just went in my room and I just sobbed my heart out - seriously."
She went on to say: "We've got to the stage of Mother's Day where it's got to five or six years where we're used to doing occasions together. We all know how everyone feels and what to expect of the day."
Rio added: "And it's got to be an inclusive day. If you're in the house and that happened, I wasn't being aware of the role you are playing and how invested you are to [say] 'Let's acknowledge Kate for the part she's playing in some way, shape or form. Whether that's a card or a cake."
Reflecting on Kate's words he said: "But I got caught up, obviously. I got caught up in the kids." He added that "the person who's there putting in the graft, who is still here and helping it go along as well as it can go, you fail to acknowledge. Mistakes are made".
Rio, who explained he doesn't get "overly emotional", also told listeners: "Our house has gone from a morbid Mother's Day, and now it's slowly moprhed into being a celebratory day again. It's meant to be celebrated."
Kate and Rio share a son, Cree, together and are expecting another baby, a girl, together later this year after announcing the news she was pregnant in January 2023. It comes after the Kate suffered a miscarriage last July.
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