Kate Ferdinand paid tribute to her husband Rio Ferdinand's eldest son Lorenz as he marked his milestone 18th birthday.
The former The Only Way Is Essex star dressed up for the special occasion, rocking a white strapless top with mini black bows down the front that tied in with her low-slung maxi skirt. She wore her hair in tumbling curls as she cuddled up to her tall stepson, who stood almost a foot taller than her and wore an all-black outfit.
© Instagram"Happy 18th birthday to our eldest. I am forever proud of you & so grateful I have you in my life. Keep shining. Love you always xxx," she wrote, before adding: "Towering over me now."
© GettyShe had added another photo of herself with Tia as part of the family montage.
Former Manchester United footballer Rio shares Lorenz, Tate, and Tia with his late wife Rebecca, who sadly passed away in 2015 from breast cancer.
Kate and Rio started dating in 2016 after meeting through mutual friends while holidaying in Dubai. She stepped back from reality TV in 2017 to focus on Rio and his kids, and the pair tied the knot in 2019. See inside their love story...
They welcomed son Cree in 2020 and daughter Shae in 2023, and she has developed a close bond with Rio's kids.
The 33-year-old recently admitted she was tearful when Lorenz left the family home in Kent. "I don’t even know if anyone knows this. [Lorenz] doesn’t live at home at the moment. He’s in digs with another family,” said Kate on the Blended podcast.
"Because of what he’s doing. He’s playing football. We ain’t just thrown him out," Rio added, referring to his signing to Brighton & Hove Albion’s under-18 football team.
"I was devastated when he moved out. I miss him so much. We still see him twice a week but I miss him so much and that’s taken a lot of getting used to," she said.
© InstagramHowever, Kate has also been open about the challenges of blended families. She insisted that she tried to talk to Lorenz, Tate, and Tia about Rebecca as much as possible and has never tried to replace her role as their mother.
After being part of the family for five years, she confessed on her podcast: "I still feel... no one makes me feel like this by the way, this is me and myself... that I'm sometimes not part of the family.
"I sometimes get over emotional about some things and certain things trigger me because it makes me feel like an outsider.
"None of my family do anything to make me feel like that. They are welcoming, they do everything that they could possibly do in all honesty but I'm just so emotional about it."
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