Last night the BBC aired Rio Ferdinand's much-anticipated documentary Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad.

The former footballer lost his wife Rebecca to cancer in 2015, leaving him a widow with three children to raise.

The documentary was trending on Twitter even before it aired, after Rio appeared on This Morning to promote the programme earlier today, with Piers Morgan tweeting his praise of the programme after watching a preview yesterday.

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The one-off special charted Rio's journey as he began to garner advice about loss, grief and moving on.

Speaking to a cancer specialist, a number of male widowers at The Gentlemen's Room group as well as bereavement group Jigsaw, Rio was told he needed to mourn after acknowledging that he hadn't quite grieved Rebecca's death himself yet.

In highly emotional scenes, Rio admitted that while he didn't consider suicide, he did finally understand why other people felt like that was an option.

Nonetheless, while the nation worried for Rio, he was mostly concerned about his children and how Rebecca's death would affect them.

"I worry about all of them because I can't get nothing out of the two boys especially," he said.

"I want something to help them to help talk to know they're actually alright, because I don't know.

"I want to find some other way where they can express themselves a bit more."

As the documentary progressed, Rio began to open up about Rebecca with his kids, remembering the good times and positive memories about their mum.

"I love my wife more than anything," Rio said.

"Me and Rebecca, we had an unbelievable relationship."

From: Digital Spy