Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has opened up about why he kept silent regarding his late wife’s heartbreaking battle with cancer. Rebecca Elisson, Ferdinand’s first wife, tragically died of cancer at the tender age of 34 in 2015. She was initially diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and chose to keep her condition private while undergoing treatment.
Sadly, after a brief period of remission, the cancer returned, this time spreading to her bones. A mere five weeks after doctors informed her that her condition was terminal, Rebecca passed away. At the time, Ferdinand did not discuss the matter with either his former or current team-mates at United.
However, a decade after his devastating loss, Ferdinand has shared details of a conversation he had with Wayne Rooney, as both men navigated personal hardships.
In an interview with The Times, Ferdinand confessed: “It’s built in, in men, not to talk.”
Ferdinand is now striving to challenge the stigma surrounding men’s mental health by creating a ‘safe space’ for individuals to discuss their problems on his YouTube podcast, Rio Meets.
During a 2025 appearance on the podcast, Rooney expressed regret for not reaching out to Ferdinand during their shared struggles, stating: “Not just me, but the other players are thinking, why didn’t we do more to allow you to come and talk to us?” Rooney even went so far as to say that without his wife Coleen, he believes he “would be dead”.
Ferdinand said of that conversation: “I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t anticipate any of that coming’. We were just fortunate Wayne felt comfortable enough to be so open. I’ve seen Wayne in low situations.
“We lived and shared and breathed a life of football together, so I’m going to see things other people haven’t, but I never knew about a lot of the things he told me.”
Ferdinand is, however, delighted that progress has been made, allowing players more freedom to discuss their mental health struggles, insisting it was something his generation lacked.
He is also pleased his two sons Lorenz, 19, and Tate, 17 – who are both in the Brighton academy – would be willing to speak about any issues they might have.
As well as speaking to Rooney, Ferdinand reflected on the chats he had with Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen on his podcast due to how candid people are now, compared to the dressing room environment he was accustomed to.
“We were just fortunate Wayne felt comfortable enough to be so open,” he added. “I’ve seen Wayne in low situations. We lived and shared and breathed a life of football together, so I’m going to see things other people haven’t, but I never knew about a lot of the things he told me. The thing I say to all footballers, past and present, is we’ve now got the best opportunity to shape the narrative. This is the best era. My generation never had this.
“We could never have come to the media and said, ‘I’m feeling really low, I might need a couple of months off because of depression. I have certain things going on at home. I’m having problems with drink.’ There’d have been huge headlines and people would have just gone ‘what?’ We’d have been hammered.
“But I’d love to have seen what it would have added to our teams. If we’d been able to be a bit more open and talk about these types of things, I genuinely believe it would have helped.
“I don’t think we would have been allowed [to express our struggles]. People would have put negative slants on our names, our whole personae would have been different.
“You’ve got to look at someone like Wayne Rooney. Or Steven. These are gunslingers. Roy of the Rovers types who can drag a 20-man squad out of the mire. How would that have been allowed if they were looked at as a bit of a ‘weak touch’ in terms of mental capacity and whatnot back then?”
