Kate Ferdinand has shared an emotional video of her husband Rio Ferdinand reuniting with their children after six weeks away covering the World Cup. The clip, posted on Instagram, shows the 47-year-old pundit driving up to their home in Dubai as his children rush to greet him.
Youngest children Cree and Shea run towards the car, while daughter Tia, 15, from Rio's previous relationship with the late Rebecca Ellison, also joins for a big family hug. Kate, 35, can be heard off-camera calling for Tia to ensure she doesn't miss out on greeting her dad.
Heartwarming Caption and Fan Reactions
In the caption, Kate quoted one of her children: "'I've got my dad here.' A very long six weeks without our @rioferdy5, we've all missed him so much. Couldn't be happier to have him home." Over the video, she added: "Together again after six weeks apart."
Fans quickly flooded the comments with love for the post. "This is so lovely," said one fan. Another noted: "It's Kate shouting for Tia making sure no one gets left out of cuddles," while a third said: "Aww, think they missed daddy."
Countdown to Daddy's Return
Earlier, Kate had shared how much the family missed Rio during the World Cup. She posted a series of family pictures and said: "Daddy's been gone for four weeks, mummy's trying to hold it together." She also shared a photo of a poster made by the children titled "When is daddy home?" with a countdown and daily stickers. Kate wrote: "Nearly 4 weeks down, just over 2 to go!"
Family Background
As well as Cree, Shea, and Tia, Rio has two other children, Lorenz and Tate, also from his relationship with Rebecca, who died of breast cancer 11 years ago. While Tia lives with Rio and Kate in Dubai, Lorenz and Tate live in the UK. Kate has spoken about her relationship with her stepchildren, admitting it has not always been easy.
On her podcast, Kate said: "As a stepparent setting rules, you are going to upset the stepkid if it's not what they like. You're going to upset any child, but for some reason it feels more personal when it's a stepchild." She added that staying calm was "near on impossible" and that she had recently clashed with Tia over timekeeping, feeling "drained" after having the same conversations "for eight years."
Past Tensions with Stepchildren
Tate previously appeared on Kate's podcast and admitted he tried to sabotage Rio's relationship with Kate by telling lies about her "meeting random men" and locking him and his siblings in a room after she moved in in 2018. He said this was out of "loyalty" to his mother and that he "hated" Kate at first. He recalled: "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."
