A man who stunned his ex-partner on TikTok by telling her he'd paid off her mortgage on her birthday has revealed their family are back together.
Salesman Shaun Nyland made national headlines in 2021 after he made the massive gesture to keep a roof over Cat Keenan's head after the couple, who have 5m followers between them, broke up in February.
But in a video released on Cat’s Youtube channel this week, the Newport-based couple who share two children got back together in typically dramatic fashion.
You can read more about the day Shaun paid off Cat's mortgage here
When the pair joined the social media platform in November 2019 they said they couldn’t have imagined how it would transform their lives.
Within four months Shaun had racked up one million followers and Cat had more than 250,000 - in the process matching her monthly dog-walking salary in a single day.
Soon enough the couple realised they had made enough money to quit their jobs.
Shaun told followers they found the fame “overwhelming” and that they “didn’t know what to do with all this attention”.
“This all sounds rosy of course, but since we became full-time content creators that was a massive change in lifestyle for the both of us,” Shaun explained. “We’ve gone from me being out of the house from six in the morning until six at night to us suddenly spending all that time together.”
Cat said being so close daily made them “more like friends just working together”. “We kind of forgot we were together. I said to him that I don’t feel affection or love for him. It made our relationship so rocky which then caused us to split up.”
After the couple split up in March last year Cat said she began to struggle financially when Shaun had moved out and she had a mortgage and a new Range Rover to pay off.
“I was so stressed I couldn’t eat,” Cat said. “The mortgage was costing a lot each month and the Range Rover was costing me £1,000 a month on fuel.
“I lost interest in work and I wasn’t posting on social media. I was heartbroken.”
The couple said they’ve had numerous accusations of faking their own break-up for attention.
“We didn’t,” Cat insisted. “If you guys knew how much we’ve both suffered you’d be really shocked, it was bad.”
Cat then put to Shaun the idea of continuing to make videos together even if not as a couple.
In a clip on TikTok which has gained 4.3m views, Shaun filmed himself lobbing a set of keys at Cat before announcing that she owned the entire thing.
Looking puzzled, Cat, who now has just over 1.6m followers herself, thinks her ex is winding her up until he says: "Well it's your birthday today and I want you to have the best birthday ever.
"I know we're not together anymore and you've been struggling paying off the mortgage every single month, and I'm so proud of you, you're the best mum ever.
"So I did something, I rang up the bank, I paid off the entire mortgage, this house now belongs to you."
Unsurprisingly, the kind gesture brought the couple much closer together, and in the video on New Year’s Eve Cat asked Shaun to move back into the family home.
She said: “I caught feelings again and to be honest I was quite confused by my feelings.”
Shaun told followers “we don’t want to rush back into anything just yet”. But Cat hadn’t got the memo, and announced her love for him on the video.
“Ahh I’m so nervous,” she screamed suddenly. “What are you nervous about?” Shaun asked. Shaun was already in tears, pre-empting what Cat was about to say.
“We’re in a really good place and my feelings are really strong towards you,” she said. “I realise how much I love you and I want to be with you again as a family and for the children. I want to make it official now. Will you be my boyfriend again?”
Shaun said: "You tricked me! Oh my god, I'm actually crying."
"Omg guys huge congratulations," one fan replied. "I’m so happy your back together you make such a great couple!"
Another added: "You guys had me crying, congratulations! You are both amazing people."
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