Rio Ferdinand's son Tate has opened up for the first time about the difficulties he had accepting stepmum Kate into the family home, saying he regarded her as 'a problem' and initially told people she was his auntie.
Tate, now 18, also revealed that he and his older brother Lorenz resented the prospect of Rio and Kate having their first child together, expecting to hate it. Former England footballer Rio admitted that negotiating a blended family had been such a difficult ride that he would not want his daughter Tia, now 15, to ever enter into one, even though their family unit has now overcome its difficulties.
Kate, 35, admitted: 'There's been a lot of crisis talks over the years.' Rio, 47, had his three older children with first wife Rebecca, who died of breast cancer aged 34 in 2015. He married Kate Wright in 2019, and they have two children together, Cree, five, and Shae, two.
Speaking on Kate's Blended podcast, Tate said: 'When you were actually moving in and you were there, and I got a bit used to you, and the excitement was almost over, that's when I started to think "There's a problem here - we've got a problem." One side of me was saying "Yes, I'm so excited to have someone new and fun in the house" and the other half was fuming "who's this random taking over my mum's spot, taking my dad away from me." I almost saw you as an auntie, not a mother.'
Kate said only once had any stepchild said to her face that she was not their mum, when Tate said it in a car. She said: 'I got really upset, but straight away you were like "No, no, I didn't mean it."' Both agreed they used to 'butt heads' often, with Tate admitting he saw Kate as a 'weak link' when Rio was away.
