The tragic story of Rio Ferdinand’s late wife Rebecca Ellison, who stood by her husband through thick and thin and died at 34… but gave her blessing for him to find love again
FEWER than three years after his world was turned upside-down with the death of his wife, Rio Ferdinand has found happiness again with former Towie star Kate Wright.
Rio, 38, proposed to Kate, 27, in Abu Dhabi this week, in front of his three children with first wife Rebecca Ellison, who died after a battle with cancer in 2015.
A source close to Rio told Sun Online: "Rio is madly in love with Kate but he's the first to admit that his decision to pop the question was fraught with mixed emotions about Rebecca.
"When Rio got married it was for life, and he's had to slowly accept that the fates took a turn he could never have envisioned."
Rio and Rebecca enjoyed a long and loving relationship, even though they were robbed of the fairy tale ending to their love story which they had hoped for.
But the retired footballer, who hung up his boots in 2015, also knows that his first wife would want him to be happy, having given her blessing for Rio to find love again in the final weeks of her life.
"It kills me to think of Rio with a new partner," Rebecca told a friend before she died. "But you know what kills me even more? Thinking of him alone and lonely.
"If I don't make it, I don't want Rio to be miserable. I want him to be happy."
Speaking about the engagement news, our source says: "It did take a lot of soul searching for Rio to bring it to this stage.
"He went through all the familiar emotions of thinking: what would Rebecca think? Was he betraying her memory? But the fact is as time has gone on he's realised Kate is a complete blessing not just for him but for the kids as well."
The cheesy chat-up line which started it all
Rebecca did make Rio happy - ever since the pair of Londoners met while he was playing for West Ham in 2000.
She was an accountant and he was a rising football star, and he couldn't resist trying it on with the brainy young brunette.
Rio has previously admitted that he went in with a very direct chat-up line - "Write your number down there then, please" - and that her response was: "Nah, you're alright thanks."
However, even then Rio knew that Rebecca was something special, and wasn't going to give up that easily.
He continued to woo Rebecca with all the determination you'd expect from a top sportsman, and the pair quickly grew close.
Within a year of them meeting, Rio got his first shot at the big time when he joined then Premier League side Leeds United for £18 million.
Rebecca and Rio continued their budding relationship, and just two years later he was sold to Manchester United for £30 million - breaking the record fee for a British footballer.
Aged just 24, Rio had made it. He was a star playing at the top level of football, and now he found himself in a whole new world, surrounded by fast cars and adoring fans.
But he didn't forget Rebecca - the woman who had supported him while he was still an up-and-comer - and his relationship with her flourished.
The pair settled in swanky Cheshire, where they enjoyed a happy and comparatively guarded private life, compared to many of his Premier League peers who were living nearby.
An 'unbelievable' relationship
Rio has described his relationship with Rebecca as "unbelievable", saying: "She was always messing about and laughing at herself."
In 2006, Rebecca gave birth to the couple's first son, Lorenz, and Rio - who had earned a reputation for being unfaithful - vowed to take fatherhood seriously.
"I have been a cheat before but I’ll be a great dad," he is quoted by the as saying.
A year after Lorenz was born, Rio popped the question during a holiday to Las Vegas, and their second son, Tate, arrived a year later in 2008.
Rio and Rebecca waited until 2009 to marry - tying the knot almost a decade after they first met at an intimate ceremony on Peter Island, a luxurious private resort in the Virgin Islands.
Then, in 2011, the pair welcomed a daughter, Tia, to their Cheshire home.
The rock throughout Rio's career
In the same year as Tia was born, Rebecca stood by her husband after it was claimed in court that he had been having a 13-year affair with his former teenage girlfriend, interior designer Carly Storey.
It was also alleged that he had cheated on her with ten others, mostly models.
A court was told that Rio had ended the fling a year before it was exposed, when he was promoted to the England captaincy, and Rebecca never wavered in her support for him.
In fact, Rebecca was Rio's rock throughout most of his football career - and was often seen in the stands while her star husband was playing.
Rio has spoken about how she would take care of the children while he focused on his job, and he has said that she was always meticulous in her attention to detail around the family home.
'Mummy's not going to get better'
In 2014, Rebecca was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment, keeping her illness private and trying not to let it impact her children.
She had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy - which was initially successful, but a year later the cancer returned and spread to her bones.
Just before she died, Rio and Rebecca had been planning to move to their recently-bought mansion in Orpington and start a new life, post-football, with Rio about to retire.
"I loved my wife. More than anything," says Rio, but the pair were denied their happy ending by a tragedy nobody should ever have to endure.
In May 2015, Rebecca passed away aged 34, and the lives of everyone in the family were torn apart.
As Rio puts it, his "world collapsed", and he was left with the crushing task of telling his children that their mum wasn't going to be with them as they grew up.
The former United ace has said that tears were streaming down his and his children's faces in the hospital as he tried to explain what was happening in a way they'd understand.
“I gazed at my beautiful children, lost for words, searching for a way to begin," he revealed to The Sun. "‘I’m afraid I’ve got to tell you something very, very sad.
“‘Mum’s not going to be able to get out of here. She’s got cancer again and this time she isn’t going to get better’.";
"You realise playing football was a walk in the park compared to telling your kids their mum isn’t coming back," he added.
"As footballers, we often talk about missing important games through injury as if it was the end of the world. Believe me, it isn’t when compared to your wife and mother of your children dying of cancer."
Grief-stricken nights and suicidal thoughts
Rebecca died in Rio's arms after the pair spent one final night together, and in the heartbreaking statement confirming his wife's death, Rio said: "My soul mate slipped away last night.
"She was a fantastic loving mother to our three beautiful children. She will be missed as a wife, sister, aunt, daughter and granddaughter.
“She will live on in our memory, as a guide and inspiration.”
Rio's grief was so extreme that he turned to alcohol and experienced suicidal thoughts at first, and he writes in his autobiography that there are still nights which can "undo" him.
"I usually wake up between 2-3am, when the horror of what my children have lost hits me again, keeping me awake until dawn," he says.
As for Rebecca, she was laid to rest at a private ceremony in Kent in May 2015, where guests included Rio's United teammates and his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Her poignant send-off - which she planned herself - featured music chosen by her three children, and fell on a sunny day where all of her friends came out to pay their respects.
A new life with Kate
He now has a loving new fiance, but Rio and Kate have publicly acknowledged that they will keep Rebecca's memory alive, with Kate saying that Rebecca is "irreplaceable" as the mother of her fiance's children.
"We always celebrate Rebecca's birthday, we all go to cemetery together," she has said. "We do talk about their mum, I know a lot more about her than they think."
Today, Rio is still eager to ensure that Rebecca's family keep their close ties to him and his children.
"Rio has been really compassionate with Rebecca's parents in making them part of his new journey with Kate," our source says.
"He understands how hard it must be for them - but they are actually really comforted by Lorenz, Tia and Tate having someone that can step into the role that Rebecca had.
"They were always worried Rio would be targeted by women who were after him for the fame and money but it's clear to them this couldn't be further from the truth with Kate.
"They get on well with her and they are happy to be at family events with her and part of her life.
"She makes such a huge effort to bring Rebecca's parents in to everything that they are doing as a family and she's always very empathetic to them."
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And with a wedding on the horizon, the couple's connection to Rebecca appears to remain at the heart of everything.
Our source adds: "Rebecca's parents, family and friends will definitely be made a big part of the wedding if they want to be and the children will all have major roles.
"For Rio this isn't about starting a new chapter and forgetting about Rebecca.
"It's actually what he describes as a real opportunity to pay tribute to her and acknowledge the love and affection he had for her, while also accepting that life took a twist he didn't expect. He's trying to do his best by doing right by everyone."