Kate Ferdinand has revealed that her stepchildren once threatened to put the children she shares with their dad Rio Ferdinand "in a cupboard." The former TOWIE star, 35, opened up about the challenges of having a blended family in a recent episode of the podcast she hosts with Nathalie Holmes-Lewis.
Stepchildren's Initial Reaction
Kate married 47-year-old Rio in 2019 and became a stepmother to his children: Tate, 18, Lorenz, 19, and Tia, 15. She also has two children with Rio: Shae, two, and Cree, five. On her Blended podcast, co-host Nathalie revealed how Tate and Lorenz initially reacted to the idea of more siblings. She said: "This is reminding me of Tate and Lorenz when Kate and Rio first got together. They said, 'Oh, if they have a baby, we're going to put it in the cupboard.'"
Kate nodded in agreement but explained that they did not carry out the threat when she had children with Rio. She added that "the two boys were not supportive of another baby" at first.
Challenges of Stepparenting
The former TOWIE star also spoke about the difficulties of being a stepmother. "As a stepparent setting rules, you are going to upset the stepkid if it's not what they like," she said. "You're going to upset any child, but for some reason it feels more personal when it's a stepchild."
She added that it was "near on impossible" to stay calm all the time and admitted that she had recently been clashing with stepdaughter Tia over timekeeping. Kate said she felt like she'd been having the same conversations "for eight years" and was "drained." She told Tia: "We've done the nice nicey and I could lose it in the upcoming days. And then when I lose it, everyone says, 'What's happened to Kate? She's a psycho' or 'Kate's mental.'"
Past Sabotage and Nicknames
In another confession, Kate revealed that her stepchildren used to call her Aggie Maggie. Despite this, she said she was "proud" of her part in their lives. Rio's older children come from his first marriage to Rebecca Ellison, who died in 2015.
This comes after Tate previously appeared on the podcast and admitted that he tried to sabotage his father's relationship with Kate. He said he told lies about Kate "meeting random men" and "locking" him and his siblings in a room after she moved in in 2018. He explained that this was out of "loyalty" to his mother and admitted that he "hated" Kate at first. He said: "You just had a hater in the house. I used to be so jealous. Not jealous, I don't even know the word, but I would try and like get into all of your business."
Tate later added: "I remember when I hated you. I hated you. And then we might do something good and then I would flip straight away back into loving mode and then I'd have to almost lie about what I did before to get myself out of it."
Blended with Kate Ferdinand and Nathalie Holmes-Lewis is available now.
