TV personality Kate Ferdinand said her family had a “very scary night” at their Dubai home, but are “safe”, after Iran retaliated against a major US-Israeli attack.
Iranian missiles have hit various countries in the Middle East including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait in response to the US and Israel strikes on Saturday morning, which killed Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The reality TV star, 34, and her husband, former footballer Rio Ferdinand, relocated to Dubai last year with their young children, and the couple are among several celebrities living in the region as missiles continue to fall.
Ferdinand shared a post to her 1.4 million followers on Instagram on Sunday, and wrote: “Thank you for all of your messages and sorry for the silence, I haven’t wanted to worry you all I just haven’t been able to find the words. We are safe.
“The government are doing an amazing job of keeping it that way and despite my nerves I feel we are in very safe hands.
“We are hoping for a calmer evening tonight, last night was very scary.”
Speaking about her young children, the former The Only Way Is Essex star said: “Although, Cree and Shae loved it as they couldn’t believe we all got a sleepover in the basement.
“Thank you for all of your prayers, this whole experience is very eye opening and I am praying for anyone affected. Lots of love to everyone.”
Meanwhile former Love Island star Arabella Chi, who is living in Dubai with her daughter Gigi, said the conflict “puts into perspective a lot of things”.
The model shared a video to her 1.2 million followers on Instagram to thank them for their support in “such a scary time”, and told of hearing “petrifying” explosions from her home in Dubai.
Chi said: “I feel like the past 24 hours has just been something that I’ve never experienced in my life. Obviously, we are safe.”
Loud booming sounds could be heard in the background of the video, and the TV star said: “The bangs are obviously going off right now.”
“Gigi is at an age where she obviously doesn’t understand what’s going on, which is a big blessing.”
She added: “Last night, we literally saw (explosions) coming from not far from our house, and it was petrifying.”
Former Geordie Shore star Sam Gowland, said he was kept up overnight at his villa in Dubai by the “banging”.
In a post to his Instagram story on Sunday, he wrote: “Wow, so scary last night. I hardly slept with all the banging.
“This mornings’ wake-up call was at 7.30am with two more rockets going over my villa. Going to be a crazy day.
“Can’t really tell you the feeling you get from the noises, I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
He also posted a video urging people to “think before they speak” and said he has seen negative comments online about the situation.
He said: “Why would you wish any of this upon people? Let me tell you something, being here in Dubai last night and this morning was bloody scary.
“It still is now, it’s very tense. It’s very quiet. No one’s outside. I can’t really describe it, I’ve never been in any situation like this before.”
Elsewhere, Petra Ecclestone, the daughter of former Formula 1 founder Bernie Ecclestone, called Saturday night “one of the most scary, worst nights of my life”.
In a post on Instagram, the socialite spoke about her family relocating from Los Angeles to Dubai earlier this year, and said: “I feel like us as a family had been through a lot recently.
“We came to Dubai to feel safe, and we finally felt like we were settling in. And now this has happened, so it’s really kind of been a shocking turn of events – but thank God we are safe.”
In a separate video, she said: “I think the worst part of this is when the kids are really scared, and you obviously want to do everything to protect them, and you actually don’t know what to do.
“I don’t have the certain answers for certain things. It was terrible.”
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