Footballing legend Rio Ferdinand has revealed how his three kids helped him come to terms with the death of his wife, Rebecca, after she died of breast cancer in 2015.
Ferdinand even confessed his children saved him from suicidal thoughts in a new BBC documentary Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad.
In the powerful documentary the 38-year-old former England star explained how he put his sadness ‘into a box’.
He said:
I don’t like sitting in my house for days, you start going crazy. I would read papers, and see people who commit suicide and wonder how.
But there were times at beginning, you kinda know how they feel. But when I look at my three kids, I couldn’t do that to them.
I’m not saying I’ve thought about it, but you sink into this place, and I’m lucky with the people I have around me; family and friends.
BBC
Rio also revealed how worried he is about his two sons, explaining that he ‘can’t get nothing out of the two boys’ and that he wants them to talk to him as he has no idea how they feel.
He claims that the the boys haven’t started talking, instead they talk about their memories but crucially they never discuss their feelings.
Rebecca was only 34 when she passed away leaving the former Manchester United star a single dad to their three children Lorenz, Tate and Tia.
Rio and Rebecca first met while he was playing for West Ham in the late 1990s and the pair wed Rio in 2009.
They had their first son Lorenz in 2006 and the second Tate in 2009. Finally their daughter Tia was born in 2011.
For anyone in a similar situation to Rio and his family, there is support and help out there from charities like Jigsaw, who help bereaved families come to terms with their loss. Do not hesitate to contact.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.