Rio Ferdinand's son Tate has admitted to telling lies about his stepmother Kate Ferdinand, revealing he initially saw her as a problem and would tell people she was just his auntie. The candid conversation took place on Kate's podcast, Blended, where they discussed the challenges of becoming a blended family after the former footballer married Kate in 2019.
Tate's Struggle with Loyalty
Tate, who recently turned 18, confessed that he felt guilty for liking Kate because of his loyalty to his late mother, Rebecca Ellison, who died of breast cancer in 2015. He said: "I felt so guilty for liking Kate and loving Kate. I felt guilty for my mum’s family, for my mum. It’s a really weird feeling because one part of me really likes her… and then the other part of me thinks, ‘Oh, there’s a loyalty towards my mum here, what am I doing?'"
Attempts to Sabotage the Relationship
Tate admitted to trying to sabotage Kate's relationship with his father. 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 and then I’d have to almost lie about what I did before to get myself out of it." Kate also shared an incident where Tate accused her of meeting men behind Rio's back when a delivery driver came to the house. She explained: "Once I got a phone for Rio and the kids were asleep. Someone came to drop it off on the drive and it was 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: "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 get into all of your business."
Building a Blended Family
Kate and Rio, who have two children together, Cree and Shea, have been open about their stepfamily journey. They released a BBC documentary in 2020, Rio and Kate: Becoming A Stepfamily, and Kate launched her podcast Blended in 2022, which explores the highs and lows of blended life. The family relocated to Dubai last year.
