Una Healy’s children couldn’t fly to America to see their rugby player dad Ben Foden this week due to the current travel restrictions.
The Saturdays singer’s two children Aoife Belle and Tadhg were set to reunite with their dad and baby sister for the first time since Christmas last year.
Ben’s wife Jackie did weeks of research ahead of the kids flying out to their dad.
After the research and meticulous planning, Jackie jetted from New York to Dublin to pick up nine-year-old Aoife Belle and Tadhg, who is six, to bring them to New York for the summer.
And following the devastating let-down, Jackie has said that the kids are “not okay” and she is a “complete mess” after they spent hours trying to resolve the situation at the airport.
Nothing could be rectified so Jackie ended up flying back to New York from Dublin, landing at JFK while the kids returned home with their mum.
Ben couldn’t make the journey because he is waiting to be granted his full citizenship status after tying the knot with Jackie in the summer of 2019.
Jackie said: “I currently just spent the past month organising their trips over to the US – getting tickets booked.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
“Hours on the phone with Aer Lingus making sure their stepmother can bring them over and booking their ESTAs. Ben can’t travel because he is getting his greencard processed and can’t leave the country.
“I take the red eye to Dublin last night. When I checked in at JFK the attendants check on the kids’ return flights. Everyone was made aware of my plans to turn right back around with my stepkids.”
The only alternative Una and Ben had was to fly the children to Turkey or Mexico for a fortnight.
Jackie continued: “I pick them up in Dublin today only to have their tickets blocked by immigration.
“An hour at check in trying to get them through and then another one to two hours stuck in immigration offices only to be told there is a ban on EU citizens and there’s nothing possible we can do other than fly to Turkey or Mexico, quarantine for 14 days and then bring them over from there.”
Jackie said: “Having to break these poor babies’ hearts who had their hopes up for a fun summer with their dad and sister, we are all not okay right now.
“Una was a rockstar with them, they were on the phone with their dad. Both Una and he calmed them down. I am very much not okay and I am a complete mess.”
Ben is now hoping to come to Europe once he is finished playing with Rugby United in New York for the season.
She added: “We will file for emergency travel for Ben and probably be spending the rest of the summer in England/Ireland when Ben’s rugby season is done.”
Rugby player Ben Foden married Jackie Belanoff-Smith in 2019, after splitting with ex-wife and Saturday’s singer Una.
Una married the international rugby player four years after they started dating and the pair got wed on June 30, 2012 in Ireland.
The couple, who are no longer together, have two children, a daughter named Aoife Belle who was born March 13, 2012 and son named Tadhg John who was born February 2, 2015.
In July 2018, it was announced that Una and Ben had separated before Ben re-married the following year.
On May 20, 2020, Jackie gave birth to their daughter Farrah.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
