Rio gets emotional about girlfriend

Former England footballer has opened up his heart about an emotional 2017, when he lost his mother to breast cancer — just two years after his wife died from the same disease. The 39-year-old took to Instagram to let flow of his thoughts, captioning a picture of him and his girlfriend Kate Wright, 26, with an emotional reflection of the difficult year — thanking Kate for bringing “brightness” back into his life, according to the Daily Mail. He wrote: “To say 2017 has been a tough year would be a huge understatement. Some dark moments but brightness has been spread around me and mine by this one in many different forms.

“Christmas being just 1 example, all the thoughtful little details that make things that much better for all of us; little throwback pic (sic),” he wrote next to a photo of the pair in a hotel room in Dubai. Last year, Kate turned down a role on The Only Way Is Essex to focus on family life with boyfriend Rio and his three children, which he has from his marriage to his late wife Rebecca, who passed away aged just 34.