Tate Ferdinand, the 17-year-old son of former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand, has admitted that he deliberately made life difficult for his stepmother Kate Ferdinand and fabricated stories about her in the early years of her marriage to his father. In a candid episode of Kate's Blended podcast, Tate confessed to lying that Kate was meeting strange men and locking him and his siblings in a room. He also revealed that he felt guilty for developing affection for Kate, believing his loyalty should remain with his late mother, Rebecca Ellison, who died of breast cancer in 2015.
Early struggles in the blended family
Kate and Rio Ferdinand married in September 2019 and share two children together: Cree, five, and Shae, two. Rio also has three children from his previous marriage to Rebecca Ellison. Kate has been open about the difficulties she faced bonding with Rio's eldest children, including Tate, Lorenz, and Tia. On the podcast, Tate admitted that he would try to interfere in Kate's personal affairs and spread false accusations.
Kate recounted an incident where a delivery brought a phone for Rio while the children were asleep. She said: "Once I got a phone for Rio and the kids were asleep... someone came to drop it on the drive and they're a man. Tate told people that when dad's not there, I'm meeting men on the drive. So then a few people thought that when Rio was out, I was meeting random guys on the drive." Tate responded by saying he simply "had a hater in the house" and that he used to be jealous and try to get into all of her business.
Valentine's Day balloon incident
Kate also described a Valentine's Day balloon delivery that spiraled out of control. She was trying to hide the balloon from Rio's children, but they accused her of locking them in a room. Tate justified his behaviour by saying: "I was just in such a confused state of mind. I didn't know what was going on. Dad didn't really like surprise us with things like that. So that was like a bit of a weird thing like, 'why am I being told to stay in here for five minutes?' You come back as if nothing's happened."
Guilt and changing feelings
Tate admitted that he experienced conflicting emotions: "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. I felt so guilty for liking Kate and loving Kate. I felt guilty for my mum's family, for my mum."
These feelings persisted for several years, but Tate now acknowledges that they share a great relationship. Kate recalled the moment their bond began to grow: "I remember the day it changed, and you were like 'that's my step mum', I was like 'oh my god, I'm not his aunt anymore.'" Both Kate and Tate reflected on the "hell of a journey" they have experienced together.
