Cat Deeley has spoken about sleepless nights spent “spiralling” over her children as she adjusts to co-parenting with Patrick Kielty following their separation.
The This Morning presenter, 49, and the comedian, 55, announced in July 2025 that they had separated after 12 years of marriage. They share two sons, Milo, 10, and James, eight.
Deeley said she now worries about her children more than she did when they were younger, despite wanting them to be happy and successful.
“I probably worry about the kids more now than I did then [when they were little],” she said. “I just want them to be happy, and I tend to worry a little bit too much.”
She added: “Sometimes when I can’t sleep at night, I go into this kind of spiral of, ‘Will they be happy, and will they find something that they love to do?’ and ‘Will they find someone to love?’ You just want the best for them.”
Cat Deeley’s co-parenting arrangements with Patrick Kielty
Deeley has previously described her new life as a single mother, saying she and Kielty share parenting responsibilities on a “50-50” basis.
Speaking to the Sunday Times last month, she said managing family life alongside work required careful organisation. “It’s about being as organised as you can possibly be. I have an amazing nanny too,” she said.
Deeley also praised the nanny who helps her manage the demands of raising two children while maintaining her career.
“I have a great team of people around me. I have a brilliant nanny who’s basically my right-hand woman. She’s just ace,” she said.
She added: “Everybody’s doing their best.”
Deeley and Kielty moved back to the UK from Los Angeles in 2020, with the presenter saying she wanted to be closer to family and for their sons to be educated in Britain.
She said London’s diverse population was also important to her, telling the Times: “I moved back to the UK because I wanted the boys to be educated here. London is a melting pot. I like that there is very little segregation and I think it’s important that [my sons] see different types of people from different backgrounds.”
Family’s experience of gun violence in Los Angeles
Deeley has also spoken about the incident in which Kielty and their son Milo were caught up in a gun scare at the Century City Mall in Los Angeles.
The pair were at the shopping centre when the FBI arrived with guns and ordered people to take cover while a shooter was reported to be on the loose. Kielty and Milo were forced to shelter in a Shake Shack kitchen.
Deeley said Kielty tried to keep their son calm and prevent him from understanding the seriousness of what was happening.
“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?’” she recalled.
“It was terrifying. Paddy was shaken by it, more than Milo, who was hot and cranky but didn’t properly understand.”
The experience contributed to Deeley’s concerns about life in the United States, including the prospect of school shootings. She said that, while looking at schools, the family had been shown the safe room children would use during an active-shooter incident.
“It made me realise how [school shootings] are real. They are a problem,” she said.
