Cat Deeley has been happily married to husband Patrick Kielty since September 2012, tying the knot after a whirlwind nine-month romance.
The couple had previously met when This Morning host Cat was dating her first high-profile boyfriend, PR guru Mark Whelan. But it wasn’t till after they split, and Cat dated two more high-profile men, that Cat and Pat finally became more than just friends.
Here, ED! takes a look inside her love life, from her “rather handsome” PR beau to father of her two kids Patrick…
Cat Deeley’s romance history: Boyfriend Mark Whelan – 2001 to 2006
The TV presenter started dating older man Mark Whelan in 2001, and their union lasted for five years.
Speaking to Glamour at the time, Cat confessed he was “a PR guru, and rather handsome”. She also shared that “used to be a bad boy, but these days is a lot more mellow”. “He’s 10 years older than me and very smart and he’s introduced me to things that weren’t in my realm,” she said at the time.
Fast-forward five years and the pair announced their split. Cat admitted it was instigated by Mark, but backed his decision, calling it “absolutely the right one”.
In an interview, she said: “You’re either right for each other or you’re not, and we weren’t, simple as that. But we’re lucky in that we’re still friends and I think he’s incredibly pleased for me now.”
Cat flew Stateside following the split, making a new life in Los Angeles as the host of So You Think You Can Dance?. She added: “Nothing gets you to mend your heart quicker than throwing yourself into work. When I came out here, I couldn’t dwell on the break-up because I had too many practical things to sort out – such as how do I set up a bank account, where’s the nearest supermarket and how do I go about taking my driving test?”
Actor beau Jack Huston – 2008 to 2010
After making a name for herself across the pond, Cat started to date Jack Huston, who appeared in the third Twilight film Eclipse.
They made quite the rock star couple during numerous red carpet appearances, and she was coy when speaking about him.
“I have been dating somebody for a few months, but it’s all really new, so I don’t want to add too much – I honestly don’t know how it will turn out,” she said at the time. Cat admitted they weren’t living together and said: “Oh God no – it’s too soon for that!”
But she did admit: “He’s lovely, charismatic and super-talented and he makes me laugh. Even if there wasn’t anything romantic going on, I’d still like him to be in my life.”
However, the pair ended up splitting after almost two years together. And Cat’s rep confirmed it was her decision to go their separate ways so she could focus on “work commitments”.
A year after the split in an interview with Red, Cat revealed that she was happy being single. She also told how a relationship with an unnamed man left her feeling like a “shell” of her former self.
“I’m really happy being single at the moment. You are so much better off on your own than with the wrong person. I’d say to any woman, get out of the bad relationship that’s turning you into a shell of your former self. Learn from it, and get out.
“Then wait: enjoy yourself and your friends because, when what you want comes along, you’ll spot it.”
Michael McMillan – June 2011 to October 2011
Cat’s next relationship was a brief one, with the star reportedly enjoying a four-month fling with True Blood actor Michael McMillian.
The presenter is said to have told pals he was “the one”. But, revealing it was all over, a source told the Daily Mail: “It’s all over. Cat’s disappointed but moving on with her life. She is happy in all aspects of her life apart from her lack of a stable relationship.”
Cat Deeley and husband Patrick Kielty – October 2011 to happily ever after
Cat wasn’t lacking that stable relationship for long, as Patrick Kielty soon waltzed back into her life.
The pair first met in 2002 while working on Fame Academy. But, despite becoming firm friends, romance didn’t blossom for also 10 years when they embarked on a whirlwind romance, tying the knot after just nine months of dating.
Patrick previously said during an interview on This Morning: “If we had got together at the start, we could have got on one another’s nerves. All things came at the right time.”
When Cat was with Mark Whelan, Patrick admitted that there was a “wee vibe there”. However, he has insisted “nothing went on”.
Instead, Cat has told how he wooed her by catching a flight from Ireland to the States to surprise Cat for her birthday.
She told The Late Late Show’s Ryan Tubridy in 2020: “There was a night where it was the day before my birthday – I can’t even remember what birthday it was now! It was 30-something – he called me and he spoke to me on the phone.
I followed my heart all the way to Los Angeles to surprise my now-wife for lunch. 12 years and two kids later, I think it worked out.
“He said: ‘Oh, what are you doing for your birthday? I’m just ringing to say happy birthday.’ I said: ‘Oh, we’re going to the Beverly Hills Hotel. We’re just going to have a late brunch. It’s going to be very civilised. It’s a shame you’re not here, otherwise, you could come.’”
At the time, Patrick was in a pub in County Down, but dashed to the airport to catch a 7am flight to LA for the next day. At her brunch, Cat confessed she nearly fell off her chair when Patrick breezed in, confessing this was the moment she “slightly fell in love with him”.
He has said: “I am an absolute born romantic. If I’d a quid for every rom-com I’ve cried at… I followed my heart all the way to Los Angeles to surprise my now-wife for lunch. 12 years and two kids later, I think it worked out.”
Wedding bells for Cat Deeley as she married husband Patrick
Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty married in September 2012 after just nine months of dating. They said their “I dos” at St Isidore’s College in Rome. But Cat was so uninterested in wedding details that she let Patrick take over the planning of their very “chilled-out ceremony”.
Speaking to Closer after the wedding, she said: “Patrick went and tried the food and did all that. I never even saw the place where I got married before I got married, that’s how uninvolved I was.”
After their wedding, the couple welcomed sons, Milo, eight, and James, five.
Before they had James, Cat had told the Mirror: “I would love some more. But I have got to get on with it if I do. When you go for your check-ups they call you a ‘geriatric mum’. That is the terminology they use, I swear.”
Edith Bowman – ‘platonic love’
Being in the public eye, Cat has been subject to some untrue rumour about her love life over the years.
And good friend Edith Bowman has previously shut down claims she and Cat enjoyed a romantic relationship together. The rumours began when they were pictured leaving the Met Bar in each other’s arms.
“Cat Deeley and I, who are still really good mates, we started at MTV at the same time and we’d spent so much time just hanging out and going out,” Edith said of Cat.
Speaking on Angela Scanlon’s Thanks a Million podcast, she said: “We were really good mates, and we are really good mates still. And it was like: ‘Oh, Cat and Edith are in a lesbian relationship.’
“Photographs of us kind of holding each other up, coming out of the Met Bar or whatever was because we were drunk. It wasn’t because we were like, licking each other’s faces off!
“We are in love, but as friends kind of thing, It’s so bizarre,” she added.
Edith started dating Editors frontman, Tom Smith, in 2005, with the two tying the knot in 2013. They share two sons together.
Read more: Inside Cat Deeley’s vast net worth and her eye-popping This Morning fee
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