Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty announced their split on Tuesday
Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty and his television presenter wife, Cat Deeley, announced their decision to separate on Tuesday after more than 10 years of marriage.
Now, sources have disclosed the ‘true cause’ behind the former pair’s apparently abrupt separation following 13 years of wedlock.
Patrick, 54, and Cat, 48, sent ripples through the entertainment world when they confirmed their breakup in a joint statement to the PA news agency.
Their statement read: “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,” reports the Mirror.
The former pair first crossed paths whilst co-presenting BBC’s Fame Academy in 2002, though it wasn’t until 2011 that they eventually chose to transform their friendship into romance.
The duo married 12 months later in September 2012 during a ceremony in Rome and share two sons, Milo, nine, and James, six.
In the wake of their surprising breakup, sources have now suggested that their demanding professional commitments created obstacles and caused strain within their relationship.
Cat has co-presented ITV’s This Morning with Ben Shephard since the beginning of last year, and previously resided in Los Angeles for over a decade.
Meanwhile,Patrick presents RTE talk show The Late Late Show, having succeeded Ryan Tubridy in 2023. Despite residing in the UK, Patrick would journey to Dublin weekly to host the programme from the RTE studios.
Their conflicting timetables made it increasingly challenging for Patrick and Cat to enjoy meaningful moments together, sources revealed.
Revealing the apparent catalyst behind their marital breakdown, the source explained: “It is such sad news. They were so happy after they moved back to London, and would talk about their grand plans to renovate the house for the family.
“But sadly, as so often happens with relationships, work got in the way and it put a huge strain on the marriage.”
The insider told Mail Online: “When Cat took the This Morning job in 2024, they were becoming more and more like ships in the night.
“Patrick, in particular, has been spending more time in his native Dundrum where he has had a home for 25 years. His aunt died on Christmas Eve, and his mother’s health was up and down before her death in March. His brothers John and Cahal have been such a comfort to him.”
The heartbreaking revelation of their separation emerges amid viewer worries that the pair would find it tough managing their contrasting work patterns when Cat and co-presenter Ben Shephard replaced Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on ITV’s This Morning.
Reports have even suggested that Cat and Patrick were leading entirely different lives prior to their shocking separation being confirmed on Tuesday. However, Patrick had previously dismissed suggestions that the TV personalities were finding it difficult to spend quality time together, maintaining they had established a schedule that suited them and their two lads.
When The Times questioned whether the pair were like “ships passing in the night”, Patrick rejected this notion “because Cat’s doing her stuff in the morning, she would normally be back just after lunchtime”.
The funnyman continued: “And we’ve got the start of the week and the weekends together, so it’s not ‘Hi/bye’.”
Despite painting a rosy picture of their circumstances during the chat, Patrick also confessed that the duo endured a “tricky” spell when Cat had to film So You Think You Can Dance in the US for seven weeks.
He remembered: “There was a moment after Christmas that was tricky, when Cat’s show [So You Think You Can Dance] came back in America, and 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.”
Nevertheless, just a couple of months following Patrick’s remarks, he and Cat revealed their split.
Before their shocking announcement, the pair had relocated their household from Los Angeles to London in 2023, with Patrick travelling to his role on The Late Late Show. This followed 15 years of living Stateside.
They hadn’t been photographed together publicly for more than a year, though, and Cat was also absent from Patrick’s mother’s funeral in March.
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