Kate and Rio Ferdinand are once again in the newborn bubble, having welcomed daughter Shae to their blended family last month.
Just 12 days into life with their latest addition, former TOWIE star Kate told her 1.4million followers that she was “thanking the universe” for her little girl, after suffering a devastating miscarriage last year.
“Although I’m tired and hormonal as I sit here now, I couldn’t be more grateful. Feeling so lucky – what a special gift new life is, the most precious ever,” she wrote.
But now, a source close to the 32 year old – who is already mum to Cree, two, and stepmum to Rio’s children Lorenz, 17, Tate, 15, and Tia, 12, – tells heat that she’s grappling with the reality of raising five children and is having to rethink her approach.
“With the arrival of Shae, Kate just hasn’t been able to make herself available to everyone like she would want to,” we’re told.
“In her mind, she feels it would be ideal to be looking after everyone herself – but the reality of that is challenging. Five kids is a lot, but she thought they would muddle through and she was adamant that she didn’t need to hire help. But all her plans of how she was going to tackle this have gone out of the window, as motherhood is so unpredictable. Now, she feels the need to hire at least two people to help around the house and keep everyone fed and entertained, so she can concentrate on being there for her newborn.”
The ex-reality star – who met former footballer Rio, 44, in 2016, and married him three years later – has regularly shed light on the highs and lows of parenting within a blended family via her successful podcast Blended and “nurturing handbook” How To Build A Family.
And our source says Kate is putting herself under a lot of pressure to be a role model, especially considering the extent she has helped others by discussing her life as a stepmum.
“Kate is a perfectionist and fears being judged by other mums,” we’re told. “She wouldn’t ever want people to think she is cutting corners on responsibilities or faking it in any way, so she’s said that, if she does make any big decisions, she’s going to be open and honest about it.”
The source adds, “Kate wants to make sure she is the best version of herself she can be for the whole family, but she knows she can only take on so much.”
