Patrick Kielty admitted he ‘didn’t feel like an equal partner’ in his marriage to Cat Deeley and they had ‘rough patches’ before announcing their split.
In a joint statement, the pair, aged 54 and 48 respectively, confirmed: ‘We have taken the decision to end our marriage and are now separated. There is no other party involved.
‘We will continue to be united as loving parents to our children and would therefore kindly ask for our family privacy to be respected. There will be no further comment.’
Speaking on The Mid-Point podcast in July 2023, Patrick told how he thought he was in a ’50/50 partnership’ but then later felt more like a ‘junior shareholder’.
Asked how he and Cat made decisions in their marriage, he said: ‘For a long time I genuinely thought I was in a 50/50 partnership [laughs].
Patrick Kielty admitted he ‘didn’t feel like an equal partner’ in his marriage to Cat Deeley and they had ‘rough patches’ before announcing their split
‘Then you realise you’re actually a junior shareholder in a 50/50 partnership.
‘You go, “I thought we were 50/50? Why do you seem to have more shares?”
‘I think with big decisions you kind of have to float stuff and see how that’s going to go. You know, drop that into conversation.’
Patrick was also asked if, at the time, he and Cat were the happiest they’d ever been.
‘Yeah, look, you know 10 years into marriage, it is something you work at,’ he said. ‘It’s that idea that what attracts you is not going to keep you together.
‘It’s that idea of how you work together whenever the rough and the smooth and all those things … it’s a journey.
‘You put those kids into the mix and suddenly those priorities change, and all of those things.
‘I think anybody who feels they can put their feet up and go, “Yeah, that’s marriage cracked,” you’re kind of going, “Really?”‘
Speaking on The Mid-Point podcast in July 2023, Patrick told how he thought he was in a ’50/50 partnership’ but then later felt more like a ‘junior shareholder’
He then touched on the couple’s decision to leave Los Angeles and move back to London in 2020 after a decade living in California.
The return to the UK was, he said, Cat’s decision. She had risen to fame on SMTV and later presented Fame Academy for the BBC, which is how they met.
Then she moved to LA and had a long-running job on the show So You Think You Can Dance.
He said: ‘I think with big decisions, like that, you kind of have to float stuff and see how that’s gonna go.
‘What was weird about it was, it was Cat who wanted to do return it was more her decision because I think being a young mum and not having the family around and not having that network of cousins and brothers and all of that.
‘I think for me, somewhere like London is not home, London’s never really going to be home for me, in my head I still live in a little village in County Down, even though I haven’t lived there full time for 30 years.
‘My family was always a flight away anyway so that idea of it being a longer flight from LA wasn’t as much of a problem for me as someone who had to get on a flight to see them anyway.
‘I also think because Cat was the one with the successful career out there, she was the one that chose that she wanted to leave that, at that right time, that’s a decision that she made and only she can make, and it’s your job to support that decision.”
Patrick started presenting The Late Late Show, which is filmed in Dublin on a Friday, from 2023. The following year, Cat landed her job on This Morning.
He said: ‘You realise you’re actually a junior shareholder in a 50/50 partnership. You go, ‘I thought we were 50/50? Why do you seem to have more shares?’
The Irish comedian also discussed how the Covid lockdowns, and being unable to work, impacted their relationship.
He explained: ‘When you work in entertainment, there’s a lot of time you might be working and you might record something and it takes a short period of time to do it, and people assume that goes out for half a year, you’ve been working on something for half a year,
‘Over the space of time, we’ve been married for 10 years, we’ve probably been married for about 30…
‘Because if you look at a normal couple when they get up in the morning and spend 45 minutes with each other and, you know, they get their breakfast and somebody leaves for work, and somebody else goes somewhere else, and you come back and have three or four hours with them that evening, if you’re lucky, maybe less than that.
‘You add that up and you see these pictures of these old people, “oh we’re 50 years married and we’re blissfully happy, and it’s been an amazing journey,” you go, “I think you might have spent five years, seven, max.”
‘So what was really interesting was for the rest of the world to end up in lockdown and see the stress that put on a load of relationships, the amount of time you’re spending with your partner anyway, that was really interesting, to see the time squeeze pushing people together in the same houses and some people could take the pressure and some people couldn’t.’
Cat notably did not attend Patrick’s mother Mary’s funeral back in March (pictured) it was reported that she stayed home in order to support their two young children
Cat notably did not attend Patrick’s mother Mary’s funeral back in March.
It was reported that she stayed home in order to support their two young children, Milo, nine, and James, seven, who were suffering the loss of their grandmother.
Patrick, 54, looked bereft as he carried Mary’s coffin through his home village, where he was joined by close family and friends at the Church of the Sacred Heart.
A spokesperson for Cat told Daily Mail at the time: ‘Cat remained at home to be there for her two young children before and after school on this very sad day.’
Cat and Patrick first met in 2002 while they hosted BBC talent show Fame Academy, however sparks didn’t fly between the couple until 10 years later.
After being friends for years, their friendship turned to romance thanks to his major gesture when he flew all the way from Belfast to Los Angeles for brunch with Cat.
Previously talking about how they got together he told the Daily Mail: ‘Well there had always been a spark between us, but either she was with someone or I was, and then she moved to LA, so opportunities for something to develop were limited.
‘Unless someone was stupid enough to get on a plane, nothing would have happened.
‘Cat was in LA and I was in Northern Ireland, so I texted her to wish her a happy birthday.
Cat and Patrick first met in 2002 while they hosted BBC talent show Fame Academy, however sparks didn’t fly between the couple until 10 years later (pictured in 2002)
‘When she said she was having a birthday lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel, I said I’d be there. She told me to go to sleep as I was drunk.
‘That was 2am. I got up at 5am, went to Belfast airport for 6am, got the 7.15am flight to Heathrow, landed at 8.30am, took off again at 9.40am and arrived in LA at 1.15pm.
‘I was at the Beverly Hills Hotel by 2.15pm. When I walked in, Cat looked at me and said: “Oh, you’re good!””
They married in a secret, intimate ceremony in Rome in 2012 with their close family and friends present.
A wedding photo showed the pair looking blissfully happy as they enjoy a celebratory drink at their wedding reception.
The couple lived in California for over 14 years as she presented So You Think You Can Dance but they put their Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $4.9 million (£3.8 million).
They moved back to North London in 2020 after buying a £4.9 million property in Hampstead.
The pair have been renovating the fixer-upper since moving in, with the couple’s architect telling Daily Mail: ‘The proposed external appearance builds on the inherent character of the existing house but updates it into a contemporary dwelling both in use and character.
‘It is inspired by mid-twentieth design ranging from the designs of Alvar Aalto to houses of the west coast of America which are familiar to the clients who spent many years living there.
‘Materials have also been introduced that connect the clients to their previous home in LA and to places that have significant memories for them.’
After being friends for years, their friendship turned to romance thanks to his major gesture when he flew all the way from Belfast to Los Angeles for brunch with Cat (pictured 2003)
The move came prior to Cat securing her job at This Morning amid fears of gun violence following an incident in which Patrick had to hide from a gunman in a Los Angeles mall.
The star recalled: ‘They shut down the centre. I got a call from Paddy, saying, “They’re taking us out through the fire exits but nobody can get to their car. If we walk to a junction, can you come and get us?”
‘He wanted to keep Milo calm, so I didn’t understand the enormity of what was happening.
‘As I was driving I began to see helicopters, news vans, firemen and SWAT squads. It makes me go funny now. It was terrifying.’
The couple started their family while living in the US and explained that she found moving back to the UK ‘really hard’, even though she felt it was necessary with LA becoming increasingly unsafe in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
She added: ‘It doesn’t feel as safe as it used to be. There’s an edge, which wasn’t there before. The health system is failing miserably.
‘After the pandemic there are lots of vulnerable people with severe mental health issues that have just fallen through the net.’
Back in 2024 Patrick opened up about the tricky times the couple had faced balancing their careers.
Prior to her job at This Morning, Cat was the host of So You Think You Can Dance over in the US.
Speaking about a period during Christmas 2023, Patrick told The Times: ‘There was a moment after Christmas that was tricky.
‘She had to fly to Atlanta for seven weeks. There was a wee bit of a juggle there. But I think with all these things, as long as you have a routine, it doesn’t take as much fizz out of you as some people think.’
The couple lived in California for over 14 years but they put their Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $4.9 million (£3.8 million) and moved back to London in 2020 (pictured in 2017)
Discussing how things have changed since her move to This Morning he added: ‘Because Cat’s doing her stuff in the morning, she would normally be back just after lunchtime. And we’ve got the start of the week and the weekends together, so it’s not “Hi/bye”.’
The former couple are estimated to be worth approximately £11million with Cat believed to be on around £600,000 per year to host This Morning.
Patrick, on the other hand, was given a three-year, £216,000 contract to host 30 episodes of the Late Late Show, after he took over from Ryan Tubridy.
Meanwhile last year Cat stunned ITV viewers when she made a shock bedroom confession on This Morning.
She and her co-host Ben Shephard were discussing whether separate rooms are the key to a happy marriage alongside Linda Lusardi and married couple Emma and Kevin – who choose to sleep in separate bedrooms.
Speaking about her own bedroom arrangements, Cat revealed her sleeping situation with Patrick.
She explained: ‘It’s one of those things that because of our schedule here [This Morning], from Monday to Thursday I sleep in the guest bedroom and the rest of the time I’m back.
‘Because otherwise I get up at 5am and I want to fall asleep earlier.’
Before marrying Patrick, This Morning presenter Cat was married to businessman Mark Whelan for five years. They divorced in 2006.
Northern Irish comedian and presenter Patrick was in a high-profile relationship with Amanda Bryam for five years, separating in 2003.
