Rio Ferdinand held back tears as he paid tribute to his late wife, Rebecca Ellison, at the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards last night.
The footballer won the Best Single Documentary BAFTA for a film he made about his late wife, ‘Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad’, which aired on BBC One last June.
In the film, the widowed sportsman discussed the difficulties of being a single parent to his three children, following the death of his beloved wife Rebecca, who lost her battle with cancer in 2015 at the age of 34.
Delivering an emotional speech when accepting the award, Rio also thanked his “beautiful” girlfriend Kate Wright for her support.
“I’m normally quite used to picking up trophies, but um, I don’t normally have to speak after,” he said. “Thanks to BAFTA and all the other nominees, but also to BBC for believing in the project, all the guys at New Era, the management team, it’s been quite a crazy whirlwind experience.”
“I didn’t do this for any other reason other than my three kids. The worst thing to come out of this is that I get quite emotional now. I’m not quite used to it.
“You’re built up as quite an indestructible athlete. All of the nans, the grandads, the younger people, the middle-aged people who come up to me in the street don’t want to talk about football,” he continued.
“Those people lacking in character in confidence, it has encouraged to give them a voice. This documentary has given something to my three kids.
“This documentary has propelled me forward into a period of happiness where my kids are happy, and I’ve got a beautiful girlfriend. Thank you, BBC, thank you very much,” he added.
Kate and Rio started dating in early 2017.
Watch #TheDailyGoss below:Â
