WHEN you follow your favourite celebrities on social media, it’s easy to think that you know everything about their day-to-day lives – from what washing powder they use to their go-to family meal.
But over the weekend, Frankie Bridge left her 1.2m Instagram followers stunned when she revealed she has a “secret” teenage stepson who she doesn’t share online.
And it turns out, the former Saturdays single isn’t the only celeb to keep her partner’s children from a previous relationship out of the public eye.
From Stacey Solomon to Fearne Cotton, here Fabulous takes a look at the celeb mums with “secret” stepchildren at home.
On Saturday night, mum-of-two Frankie, 32, took part in a Q&A with her Instagram followers where she answered fans “assumptions” – including one who had guessed that she’s a stepmum.
Sharing a photo of her sons Parker and Carter, Frankie wrote: “True. I am indeed. It’s not something I talk about much as him and his mum aren’t in the same industry as us.
“So I keep that part of our life private. I’ve also never really chosen to be called a step parent.”
What’s more, Frankie admitted that 14-year-old Jaydon doesn’t refer to her as his “step mum”.
She added: “He has his parents, I’m just a bonus family!”
Frankie’s husband Wayne Bridge shares Jaydon with his ex Vanessa Perroncel, a French model he dated from 2005 to 2009.
Anyone who follows Stacey Solomon on Instagram will recognise the star’s three sons Zachary, 12, Leighton, eight, and baby Rex who all make regular appearances on her Stories.
But the Loose Women panellist is also a proud step-mum to fiancé’ Joe Swash‘s 13-year-old son Harry.
The EastEnders actor shares his teenage with his ex-fiancée Emma Sophocleous who he dated for three years before their split in 2008.
However, Stacey and Joe have made a conscious effort to keep Harry out of the limelight – although the star did feature a picture of the teen in a sweet tribute to Joe on Father’s Day last year.
She captioned the adorable image: “Happy Father’s Day to the best male role model our four boys could wish for…
“I know you missed out on so much with your own daddy but you’ve made up for it a million times over with our boys.
“You are selfless, kind, caring and have put every cell in your body into raising you boys. I don’t know how we got so lucky.”
Appearing on the the podcast Step Life last year, Joe opened up about his blended family with Stacey – who he proposed to on Christmas Eve.
He said: “[Harry and I] talk to each other every day, we see each other every couple of days, he only lives 20 minutes away from me and at the beginning, maybe even five years ago, it’s completely different to what it is now.”
When Fearne Cotton married Jesse Wood in 2014, she became step-mum to the musician’s children Arthur, 18, and Lola, 14.
Opening up about the shock of becoming a step-mum on This Morning in 2015, Fearne said: “I was 29 when I met my husband, it was quite an induction to being a proper parent.
However, the Happy Place podcast host says her son Rex – now seven – has always “adored and idolised” his older siblings.
Since then, the couple have also welcomed five-year-old Honey.
Despite boasting over 3.2m followers on Instagram, Fearne never shows her children’s faces on online – by either taking a photo of their backs or covering their features with an emoji.
Last year, Fearne told Red magazine that she dislikes the term “blended family”.
She said: “It instantly highlights the separateness and distracts from the ‘family’ bit. As the decades pass and social ideals are batted away like archaic flies, a family can be anything it wants to be, but we are still getting our heads around the labelling part.
“Together, we are a family. Sometimes the older two are with us and sometimes they’re not – either way, they’re always cogs in our family wheel in equal measure. We have raised the kids as siblings; there is no ‘half’ about it.”
Before having her daughter Patricia in 2018, Christine Lampard was already a step-mum to her husband Frank‘s daughters Luna, 15, and Isla, 13.
Last year, Christine posted a rare photo of Isla on Instagram for her 13th birthday and said she was “proud” to be her stepmum.
She wrote: “What a beautiful young girl you are! I feel very proud to be your step mum. We love you so much.”
In 2018, Christine opened up about her bond with her stepdaughters in an interview with The Mirror.
“They both wrote the most beautiful cards which made me cry,” Christine said. “I couldn’t believe how much they loved me.
“The wee one wrote, “I usually start cards with ‘dear’ but this is an extraordinary card for an extraordinary person”. She is 10!
“She went on to say, ‘I love you being my stepmum‘, and so I started to cry. I’m proud I have that kind of relationship with them.”
Nadia Sawalha‘s stepdaughters Izzy and Fleur were just eight and three years old when she fell in love with their dad Mark Adderley.
Although Nadia regularly features her daughters Kiki and Maddi on her social media channels, she opened up about her first encounter with Izzy and Fleur on her podcast last year.
She said: “Even their names were the names of rock star children. Izzy and Fleur. They were just trendy names. I felt ‘I am a bit naff. I am this plump, D-list, daytime presenter’. That’s what I thought.
“[Izzy] said ‘I didn’t know we were meeting somebody. And then you pulled up and then this mad woman pulled up, and said ‘Hello! I hear I call you Bob.’ She said it was just loads of mad hair. And we took her to McDonalds. And we sang. And she said, that broke the ice as she wanted to learn the song.”
In 2018, Nadia shared a photo of her daughters Kiki and Maddy with their step-sister Izzy – but Fleur chose to remain out of the spotlight.
Jennifer Lopez, 51, and Alex Rodriguez, 45, are among countless couples who have had to postpone their wedding as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
But just because they’re not married yet, that doesn’t mean Jennifer is any less of a step-mum to Alex’s daughters Ella and Natasha.
Last year, the star shared an adorable and rare photo of Ella and Natasha curled up in bed with their dad and Jennifer’s twins Max and Emme.
She told People last year: “Kids are so beautiful and open to love and new friends. I was so loving to his kids and he was so loving and accepting of mine, and they embraced each other right away. [It was] ‘I get a new bonus brother and sisters to hang out with all the time and it’s nice.”
For more celebrity stories, we looked inside the toxic decade-long feud between stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall.
And this is what Stacey Solomon’s dream wedding to Joe Swash will look like – from bridal gown to plan for ‘traditional Disney’ day
Plus Mrs Hinch’s husband Jamie Hinchliffe looks unrecognisable in resurfaced clip from reality TV fame.
