Kate Wright has spoken about her close bond with Rio Ferdinand’s three children.
The former TOWIE star, 27, told Daily Mail’s You Magazine that she “fell in love” with Lorenz, 11, Tate, nine, and Tia, seven, when she met them and is thrilled to be part of their lives.
Kate told the publication the children would love her to have a baby – but that’s on the cards just yet.
She said: “The kids would like a little brother or sister; they say ‘I dreamt that you were pregnant’. But right now we’re just happy with our little unit.'”
Kate also stressed she will never try to replace the children’s late mother, Rebecca, and spoke about how they honour Rebecca’s memory.
She also revealed the special ‘code word’ system she has with Tia, so the little girl can let Kate know if she wants to talk.
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“Their mum is irreplaceable; we celebrate her birthday, we go to the cemetery together,” she said.
“Tia and I have a code word she’ll use if she’s feeling sad, and we’ll talk about her mum or her nan – they know I’m always there for them.”
Retired footballer Rio’s wife Rebecca tragically passed away from breast cancer in 2015.
His beloved mum, Janice, died from the same disease two years later.
The former reality star quit her TOWIE role after becoming serious with Rio as she didn’t want his children to see her going through drama on TV.
Rio told The Times Magazine in May that Kate had been a positive addition to the kids’ lives.
He explained: “My relationship with Kate has helped in that they have got a female in the house now. They run past me sometimes to go to her.
“I’ve had to go through a period of being very, very open, and men aren’t normally like that naturally. So having that extra person in the house who is female, who has that softer touch, I think is vitally important for the kids.”
Kate, meanwhile, spoke on ITV’s This Morning about how it was important for her and Rio to gradually introduce her into the kids’ lives once they knew their relationship was serious.
She said: “I think a really big part in our relationship and it working for the children is that everything we’ve done we’ve included them in, from the first date, to us moving in, him asking me to be his girlfriend.
“Everything, the kids were part of it, so it feels I wasn’t taking their dad away from them, it was more us becoming a bit of a family unit.”
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Kate said she and Rio were always careful to spend time with the children, explaining how they’d go for lunch as a couple at the start of their romance, before coming home and treating the kids to a fun activity.
“They then thought, ‘If Kate is there, we get to do fun stuff afterwards’, to change their mindset in that it is fun, it isn’t me taking their dad away,” she said.
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