Rio Ferdinand and his wife Kate have landed in the Maldives, as they continued to travel across the globe after fleeing Dubai amid the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The ex-footballer, 47, and his reality TV star wife, 34, left their £6.5 million home in the UAE after the conflict broke out, joining the exodus of influencers escaping the the emirate.
The couple made the move to Dubai last summer with their two children, son Cree, five and daughter Shae, two, and Rio’s daughter Tia, 13, from his first marriage to late wife Rebecca, while his two older sons, Lorenz, 19 and Tate, 17, remained in the UK.
After leaving the desert behind, Daily Mail revealed last week that Kate and Rio had gone to stay at their luxury Portugal holiday home to wait out the crisis.
Rio shared a shirtless selfie of him enjoying sipping a bottle of Portuguese Super Bock beer on a sun-kissed terrace on his socials at the weekend, taken at the villa he owns on the Algarve.
Days later, and the England legend and his wife returned to the UK to support son Tate – who plays for the Brighton & Hove Albion youth academy – as he signed with talent agency, New Era Global Sports Management in London on Thursday.
Rio Ferdinand and his wife Kate have landed in the Maldives, as they continued to travel across the globe after fleeing Dubai amid the US-Israeli war with Iran
After leaving the desert behind, Daily Mail revealed last week that Kate and Rio had gone to stay at their luxury Portugal holiday home to wait out the crisis
Days later, and the England legend and his wife returned to the UK to support son Tate – who plays for the Brighton & Hove Albion youth academy – as he signed with talent agency, New Era Global Sports Management in London on Thursday
The UK-based sports agency is owned by ex-footballers Jamie Moralee and Peter Smith that represents and manages professional athletes, mainly footballers, with Rio being an ambassador/mentor with a significant ownership stake.
Rio needed to be back in London to film his football podcast, Rio Ferdinand Presents, while Kate previously shared that she wanted to be with family for Mother’s Day.
And while the couple apparently plan to head back to the UAE in the near future, Rio revealed on Monday that they have instead jetted off to the Maldives.
He took to his Instagram Stories to share two snaps of him with youngest son Cree in the idyllic hotspot where he runs holiday football camps, Football Escapes – which he co-owns with former Premier League players Bobby Zamora, and Mark Noble.
Shortly after they upped sticks for the UAE, Kate admitted she was pining for the UK and wrote: ‘I am enjoying it, but I miss home quite a lot. I get upset. I miss the big boys a lot and I’m just struggling with that.
‘I know this decision is right for my younger children and as a family we are settled there, but the boys are following their football careers. So they’re doing what they want to do otherwise they’d be with us.
‘But it’s very hard because we’ve been through so much as a family and we’ve always been together and that’s a huge adjustment’.
The Ferdinands joined fellow stars such as Lindsey Lohan, Taylor Ward, Luisa Zissman, Laura Anderson and Petra Ecclestone in choosing to leave their UAE lives behind.
More than 63,000 Britons have returned home from the region since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, according to government figures.
And while the couple apparently plan to head back to the UAE in the near future, Rio revealed on Monday that they have instead jetted off to the Maldives
He took to his Instagram Stories to share two snaps of him with youngest son Cree in the idyllic hotspot where he runs holiday football camps, Football Escapes – which he co-owns with former Premier League players Bobby Zamora, and Mark Noble
However, many influencers have stayed quiet on their true views of the conflict, after the UAE authorities sent out mass texts to Westerners with dire warnings that nobody was to post anything about the terror raining down on them.
Some celebrities who have stayed in the tax have have faced claims they’re being paid to pump out ‘propaganda’, after continuing to boast they’re safe and well in Dubai despite the conflict raging on.
Content creators with droves of followers have been sharing videos of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the words ‘I know who protects us’, in the midst of Iranian attacks.
Meanwhile, 45 people of ‘various nationalities’ have been arrested by police in Abu Dhabi for ‘spreading misinformation and filming and sharing event locations’ over alleged footage showing attacks.
Former Apprentice star Luisa, who has been vocal in her support for the Dubai government, revealed she had returned to the UK for work with her children.
When the crisis erupted in Dubai earlier this month, Luisa avidly informed followers she was in the ‘safest country in the world’ and ‘everything was fine’, before scarpering back to the UK to her £8million countryside mansion.
While insisting her return was planned, Luisa stated she was ‘in her refugee era’ and revealed that her dog, Crumble, is currently stuck in Dubai – leading to her plea for a companion. However, she later added that the flight had been cancelled.
Despite vocally advocating for how safe they felt in Dubai, Petra and her husband Sam Palmer also jetted out of the city earlier this month.
However in contrast, notorious social media star HSTikkyTokky, has insisted all is well in Dubai, claiming that there were ‘no bombs’ flying over the city – hours after another drone attack suspended flights at Dubai airport.
Arabella Chi has been continuing with her day-to-day life in Dubai despite reports of ‘rising panic’ among other expats rushing to flee the Gulf state, and even travelled to Saudi Arabia to celebrate her birthday.
Israeli socialite Hofit Golan moved to Dubai in December and revealed she was left terrified and hiding in her bath when the war broke out.
However, days later she insisted Dubai ‘still feels like a very safe place’, before sharing a glimpse of the ‘quiet and calm’ neighbourhood, as fellow expats returned to the beach.
And it seems that some British stars are worried they could be greeted at passport control with a vast tax bill, as it’s revealed thousands of expats would be liable for such charges if they were forced to move back to Blighty.
Expats have called for clarity from HM Revenue & Customs over tax regulations they would face if they decided to leave Dubai and fly home.
Accountants are now thought to be telling some clients that taking a holiday in another country until the new tax year starts on April 6, could help them avoid a ‘massive’ tax bill.
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