Katherine Ryan has lifted the lid on her past love life, admitting she once had a “secret hot romance” with a fellow celebrity.
The 42-year-old comedian, who is currently pregnant with her fourth child with her husband Bobby Kootstra, said she hasn’t “traditionally” dated anyone famous but teased: “I once had a secret hot romance, like famous famous hot guy.”
She confessed she had to keep the fling discreet at the time, adding: “He wasn’t that famous yet but I knew he was hot. But everyone else has been pretty ugly.”
Reflecting on her dating history while appearing on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast, she joked: “The hotter I was, I was dating the uglier. Bobby just happens to be good looking but that’s not my type. Everyone was a psychotic narcissist and they probably say horrible things about me.”
Ryan married childhood sweetheart Kootstra in 2019 after the pair reconnected two decades after first falling for each other as teenagers in Canada. They now share son Fred, four, and daughter Fenna, two, and are preparing to welcome their third child together later this year. Ryan also has 16-year-old daughter Violet from a previous relationship.
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Speaking about her husband, Ryan admitted she has never forgotten their rocky beginnings. “I remember everything in my life. Bobby, I remember any discretion. Sometimes in therapy they are like ‘let that go’ and I’m like I can’t. I love him but I don’t trust him. I remember what he did to me when we were 16.”
Their first split was dramatic and Ryan has often spoken about the lengths she went to in order to get his attention back in high school. She recalled: “When my current husband and I split up in high school, I was forced to maintain my own dignity to sleep with the prom security guard, but it worked, I got my husband back. He was jealous. I play a long game, filled with self harm.”
The pair didn’t speak for two decades until fate stepped in. During an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, Ryan recalled how she ran into him unexpectedly. “I went to the pub with my sister and into this pub walks my first love from when I was 15 years old. I haven’t seen him in 20 years. I’m in an old jumper, he looked like a full blood Hemsworth brother, just hot… I really did like him at the time.”
They reunited for good and married the following year in Denmark with a civil partnership ceremony.
Looking ahead, Ryan recently joked to the Standard: “I really believe this will be my last child… then next year, I’m gonna get hot. I’m back on the Botox, I might even get a facelift… I’m looking forward to becoming a very glamorous mid-forties woman because I’ve been having babies for the last five years.”
The Duchess star added that while she won’t immediately return to the road after giving birth, she won’t be taking a lengthy break either. “I have another stand-up special coming out this Christmas. My work is very flexible — if I get a day to do something wonderful that I love, then even if the baby was two days old I would go and do that. But if it was a travel show for three months, I obviously would not be able to do that.”
