How Kate’s healing Rio’s pain
Two years after losing his wife to cancer, Rio Ferdinand has finally gone public with his new relationship. But how easy will it be for reality star Kate Wright to fit into his family?
io Ferdinand and R Kate Wright’s relationship seemed to be gathering pace last week after the pair shared social media snaps suggesting Kate has now been introduced to his children.
Rumours of a romance between the former England footballer, 38, and the reality star started in January, then two months later Rio was pictured outside Kate’s home in Essex – but the couple were only snapped together for the first time last week while enjoying lunch together. Both stars then shared snaps of five pairs of feet – believed to be Kate, Rio and his three children – thanking a personal shopper service for sourcing them matching pairs of white Yeezy trainers.
It’s the first time Rio has been linked to a love interest since the tragic death of his wife Rebecca – mum to Lorenz, 10, Tate, eight, and Tia, six – who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2015.
Rio recently touched the hearts of the nation in TV documentary Being Mum and Dad, which followed his life as a single father. Speaking about the loss of his wife of six years, Rio said: “This is one of the only things we are going to go through where I don’t have answers for [my kids] and it’s worrying and daunting. When my kids don’t speak it’s difficult, I think: ‘What are they thinking?’ I’m desperate to know but I don’t want to scare them.”
Rio met Rebecca in the late ’90s while playing for West Ham and she was working as a fitness trainer. Rebecca retrained as an accountant before the pair married in 2009. She kept her illness and treatment private after being diagnosed in 2014. The cancer returned shortly before her death and Rio released a statement confirming: “My soul mate slipped away last night,” to an outpouring of grief from the public.
Meanwhile, Kate, 26, recently decided to leave TOWIE. While she officially stated the reason is to focus on her new bikini line, insiders believe she’s also keen to spend more time with Rio and his children.