Kate Ferdinand has revealed how difficult she found life when she first moved in with husband Rio and his three children.
The former The Only Way Is Essex star has opened up about the “incredibly difficult time” as Rio’s mum Janice had recently died from cancer, just two years after his wife and mother to his children Rebecca, had also died.
Speaking to You magazine, she revealed: “I cried every single day for a year when I first moved in with Rio.
“My heart was breaking for them. All I wanted to do was try to fix him, make the kids happy and be as kind and supportive as I could. I gave up my job. I wanted to do everything right. But I didn’t know how to cook.
“I lost myself. I felt as though I was acting all the time, trying to smile and learn to cook and be this perfect woman. I tried to talk to Rio but it sounded like I was moaning when he had much bigger problems to deal with. So I’d go to our bedroom and cry.”
The interview comes ahead of a BBC documentary Rio and Kate: Becoming a Step Family which sees Ferdinand attempting to integrate into the family and becoming step-mum to Rio’s three children grieving children, Lorenz, Tate and Tia.
The children lost their mum to breast cancer in 2015.
The programme sees Rio saying: “There ain’t no manual that tells you how to become a step-mum.”
Ferdinand took to social media recently to discuss the documentary, writing: “This is a hugely important and personal project for @rioferdy5 and I. 0:22 0:27 Personal circumstances stopped me becoming a manager – Rio Ferdinand