'I didn't know how to parent'

Kate Ferdinand opens up about the initial "shock" of becoming a stepmum to three grieving kids when she began dating Rio

- Mitya Underwood

Kate Ferdinand may now be a doting stepparent to her husband Rio Ferdinand's children from his first marriage, but last week the 32-year-old opened up about the "shock" she experienced as she went from being a single, carefree reality star to a busy step-mum-of-three.

The ex-TOWIE regular was just 26 when she met and fell in love with former footballer Rio, now 44. He was raising three kids alone following the devastating death of his first wife Rebecca Ellison, who passed away in 2015.

After two years of dating, Kate and Rio tied the knot in Turkey in 2019, and the couple added to their brood in December 2020 when Kate gave birth to their son Cree, now two.

But speaking about their sometimes turbulent journey to becoming the happy blended family they are today, Kate, who is pregnant again, admits she didn't know what she was letting herself in for when she started seeing the Manchester United legend.

"When I think back, I don't know how we did navigate it and it's a real big blur," she said on Anna Richardson's It Can't Just Be Me podcast. "I went from being a single, carefree girl to a stepmum-of-three. And these kids have gone through so much, and there's grief. It's all a bit of a blur."

Kate met Rio a year after the death of Rebecca, who died of breast cancer aged just 34. As well as being in the midst of grief himself, Rio was also managing the difficult emotions of his kids - Lorenz, 16, Tate, 14, and Tia, 12.