Kate Ferdinand has said she loves her step-kids ‘exactly the same’ as her biological son, Cree.
The former The Only Way Is Essex star became step-mum to Lorenz, 16, Tate, 14, and 12-year-old Tia when she started dating their dad Rio Ferdinand in 2017.
Tragically their mum Rebecca Ellison died two years earlier aged just 34 after a short battle with breast cancer.
Since then Kate and Rio have gone on to tie the knot in a lavish wedding in Turkey in 2019 and welcomed their first child together, a boy they named Cree, in December 2020.
As Kate and Rio prepare to welcome baby number two – a girl this time – she has opened up on their life as a blended family.
In a new chat with The Sun, six months pregnant Kate shared it was ‘hard for people to understand’ she can love Rio’s kids like her own ‘but I do’.
When her and Rio, 44, had Cree, now two, the 31-year-old admitted she was ‘terrified’ about how their older kids would react.
But she confessed her own feelings were never in doubt, as she shared: “I didn’t worry about whether or not I would love him (Cree) more than the other kids. Instead it was more about thinking if everyone would bond.
“I’ve grown Cree in my belly, so there’s instant love with your biological child. With Lorenz, Tate and Tia, it’s a love that you really have to work hard for."
Kate added: “I love them all exactly the same, but the love is formed in different ways. It’s hard to explain, but because I’ve worked so hard for their love, it’s an extra special love.”
Kate said she ‘isn’t someone who loves being pregnant’, but after a devastating miscarriage last year she says she is ‘enjoying it more than last time’.
Her and Rio have even picked out a name for their baby girl – if she suits it when she is born.
But Kate stopped short of revealing what it was, saying they don’t want to tell anyone ‘because we don’t want people’s opinions’.
However, she did say it is a unisex name they originally had for Cree, adding the whole family are thrilled there will be another girl in the house.
“Me and Tia are very outnumbered. I’m really lucky because all the kids are very helpful with Cree, but we need a bit of female energy,” Kate joked.
When Kate first moved in with Rio, she opened up about the struggles she faced when she suddenly became step-mum to three kids, despite having no children of her own at that time.
She told This Morning at the time: "At the beginning one person said to me, 'You don’t know how to look after children, you don’t have any!’ It hurts your feelings when you're trying your best.
"At first they didn’t like my food, now they say my lamb chops are better than Rio's.
"At the school gates, at first they said that’s my aunt, then that’s dad's girlfriend, then that’s my step-mum – and now they say on a daily basis, ‘When are we having a brother or sister?’ It's really lovely!"
Kate and Rio opened up about their struggles in BBC documentary Rio And Kate: Becoming A Stepfamily in 2020.
Now six years in, Kate says she feels more settled than ever, adding: “Experts say it takes up to seven years to adjust to a new blended, stepfamily set up.
“I remember hearing that and thinking ‘Are you joking’, that’s a really long time. But now we’re six years in and we’re all used to each other.”
Kate has now written a book about her experience, How To Build A Family (£16.99), which is out on May 11.
She has also written a children’s book called The Family Tree (£7.99), out on June 8, in a bid to shake off the illusion of the mean step-mother so often found in fairy tales.
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