Tia Ferdinand, 15, has shared that she misses her father, Rio Ferdinand, as he documents his six-week World Cup trip. The former Manchester United player is currently in the U.S. for the international tournament, while his wife, Kate Ferdinand, tends to their family at home.
Rio Ferdinand, 47, shared a collection of photos from his trip on Instagram, featuring moments with fellow pundit Joleon Lescott and presenter James Corden. He captioned the post, "12 Days To Go… It’s Coming Home Peeps!!" Tia responded to the post, commenting, "Missing you."
Maya is pictured with her stepchildren Tate, 18, Lorenz, 19, and Tia, 15, alongside their younger siblings Shae, two, and Cree, five.
Kate Ferdinand, 35, has previously spoken about navigating relationships with her stepchildren on her podcast, "Blended." She discussed challenges in bonding with them when she and Rio first began dating and mentioned ongoing discussions about timekeeping with Tia, which she stated "causes chaos within the house."
Kate described feeling "drained" by repeated conversations regarding punctuality, telling Tia, "We've done the nicey nicey and I could lose it in the upcoming days. This is what I said." She acknowledged that her reactions sometimes lead others to label her negatively.
Despite these occasional clashes, Kate expressed pride in her role in raising her stepchildren and emphasized the importance of their open communication. "I feel proud that I've had a part to play in them being able to just say it how it is," she said.
In a past episode of Kate's podcast, Tate recounted efforts to undermine his father's relationship with Kate, driven by loyalty to his late mother. He admitted to fabricating stories about her meeting other men and confining him and his siblings, which occurred after Kate moved into their family home in 2018.
During that discussion, Kate and Tate reflected on their journey, with Tate acknowledging a period of intense dislike for Kate. Kate recalled an instance where a delivery for Rio led Tate to falsely accuse her of meeting men on the driveway, causing wider suspicion.
Kate also shared an anecdote about a Valentine's Day balloon delivery that she attempted to keep from Rio's children, which she said escalated into a false narrative of her locking them in a room. She described the "massive turmoil" this caused as she faced questions about her actions.