“Thought it was 50/50” – Patrick Kielty bitterly admits being a ‘JUNIOR SHAREHOLDER’ in 13-year marriage with Cat Deeley, leaving fans in TOTAL SH0CK.

PATRICK Kielty has said he “didn’t feel like an equal partner” in his failed marriage to Cat Deeley – and admitted they had “rough patches” they had to work through.

The couple, who wed in 2012, announced they had called it quits yesterday.

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Patrick Kielty has said he “didn’t feel like an equal partner” in his failed marriage to Cat Deeley – and admitted they had “rough patches” they had to work throughCredit: Rex

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Patrick explained that he realised he was just a junior shareholder in the partnershipCredit: Free for editorial use

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The couple, who wed in 2012, announced they had called it quits yesterdayCredit: Getty
They said in a joint statement: “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.”

Speaking on The Mid-Point podcast in July 2023, Patrick explained that he thought he was in a 50/50 partnership for “a long time” before realising he was just a “junior shareholder”

Asked about how he and Cat made big decisions, he said: “For a long time I genuinely thought I was in a 50/50 partnership [laughs].

“Then you realise you’re actually a junior shareholder in a 50/50 partnership.

“You go, ‘I thought we were 50/50? Why do you seem to have more shares?’

“I think with big decisions you kind of have to float stuff and see how that’s going to go. You know, drop that into conversation.”

Asked about their decision to move back to the UK from LA, he said: “What was weird about it was it was Cat who more wanted to do that.

“It was more so her decision.

Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty reveal split after 13 years of marriage
“I think being a new mum and not having the family around and not having the network of cousins and brothers, and so I think, for me, London is not home. It will never really be home for me.

“In my head, I still live in a little village in County Down, even though I haven’t lived there full time for 30 years. These are the tricks you play on yourself.

“Living in London, my family was always a flight away anyway, so that idea of being a longer flight away from LA wasn’t as much of a problem for me as someone who had to get a flight to go to see them anyway.

“I also think because Cat was the one with a successful career out there, she was the one who chose to leave that at the right time, and that’s a decision that she made and only she can make.”

Asked if it was the happiest he and Cat had ever been, he said: “Yeah, look, you know 10 years into marriage, it is something you work at.

“It’s that idea that what attracts you is not going to keep you together.

“It’s that idea of how you work together whenever the rough and the smooth and all those things … it’s a journey.

“You put those kids into the mix and suddenly those priorities change, and all of those things.

“I think anybody who feels they can put their feet up and go, ‘Yeah, that’s marriage cracked,’ you’re kind of going, ‘Really?!’ ”

Once considered one of the entertainment world’s most enduring couples, Cat and Patrick first met while filming Fame Academy in the early 2000s.

Although their friendship developed over the years, they only began dating later, eventually tying the knot in a private ceremony in Rome.

Cat, who spent more than a decade hosting So You Think You Can Dance in the U.S., continued to juggle work across both sides of the Atlantic.

Speculation about their relationship emerged earlier this year when Cat was absent from Patrick’s mother Mary’s funeral in February.

The This Morning presenter was notably missing from the occasion in Dundrum, Ireland, where Patrick – host of RTE’s Late Late Show – was pictured carrying his mother’s coffin.

A spokesman for Cat told the Mail at the time: “Cat remained at home to be there for her two young children before and after school on this very sad day.”

Cat and Patrick have two sons – Milo, eight, and James, five.

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Speculation about their relationship emerged earlier this year when Cat was absent from Patrick’s mother Mary’s funeral in FebruaryCredit: Shutterstock Editorial

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Cat and Patrick first met while filming Fame Academy in the early 2000s