My wild night out in Soho House with Patrick Kielty proves why he won't be single for long following Cat Deeley split

The Sun

5 days ago

WHEN Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty announced they had ended their 13 year marriage, I was really sad.
Their love story - in which best pal Patrick impulsively flew from Belfast to Los Angeles for a surprise birthday brunch for Cat - was like something from a fairytale. But I know why funnyman Patrick won't be single for long.
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In a joint statement, the 48-year-old This Morning presenter and 54-year-old comedian, who have two sons confirmed: 'We have taken the decision to end our marriage and are now separated. There is no other party involved.'
They added: 'We will continue to be united as loving parents to our children and would therefore kindly ask for our family privacy to be respected.'
Growing up in Belfast I knew Patrick - who everyone there calls Paddy or PK - long before he was Mr Cat Deeley when, in fact, most people in England wouldn't have even heard of him.
And it was our link to home that led to us having a very wild night out together.
I was 25 and working on a showbiz column at a national newspaper while Paddy was a regular on TV screens having made it big having hosted ITV's Celebrity Love Island and Fame Academy alongside future wife Cat Deeley.
He had just made his West End debut in A Night in November, a play about a man struggling with his religious identity in Northern Ireland after the Republic of Ireland qualified for the 1994 World Cup.
Understanding the subject matter,I'd been asked to go along to review it and brought my boyfriend at the time as he was from Northern Ireland and was an old friend of Paddy's. We were also invited to attend the afterparty at the now defunct celebrity nightclub Bungalow 8.
The party was jam-packed with most of Paddy's family and friends and the bar tab quickly ran out.
We caught up with Paddy, who was exasperated at how quickly everyone was sinking the free booze. He jokingly told us the club manager had advised him £2000 was usually enough for drinks for the night for a group of our size but it had gone within the hour.
He remarked: 'Of course the Irish will drink the place dry especially if someone else is paying.'
I can remember being so shocked at the time on my lowly salary as a junior showbiz journalist that he could afford more than four times my monthly rent for a few drinks.
Later on Paddy came over and invited myself and my boyfriend to join him at Soho House on Greek Street for drinks. I had never been there before but had seen it in TV shows so was determined to go along.
At that time there was only one venue in London and it was incredibly exclusive. It held such an allure for me that I was thrilled to get to go behind the velvet curtain of the member's club.
There were about eight of us in the group - myself, my boyfriend, a few girls and then Paddy, who very generously ordered us all burgers and bottles of champagne on tap.
In the early hours and after a lot of fizz (in those days the club stayed open as late as the members wanted it to with much more relaxed closing times) I returned from the toilet to find one of the extremely beautiful girls that was with us sitting on my boyfriend's knee.
'BIT OF AN EEJIT'
He had been incredibly flirty with her all night and I was upset at the sight before me. I went to the toilet to compose myself (and ring my best friend who lived in America at the time for advice on how to handle the situation).
When I came outside Paddy was waiting for me at the door.
'I thought you might be upset so I wanted to check you were alright. He's getting on like a bit of an eejit so I don't think you should go in there.'
I will admit by this stage of inebriation and being quite young and upset that my boyfriend wasn't behaving well, I started to cry.
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Paddy comforted me and offered me some advice 'Listen you are a lovely Belfast girl but Northern Irish boys are all bad news. Even me! I can tell that one is a player. He's not good for you.'
He then told me that despite wanting to go in and cause a whole row over his behaviour, that the better thing to do would be to just do an 'Irish exit' and go home without saying goodbye and keep my dignity and leave him wondering where I went.
He even called me an Addison Lee taxi on account and told them to take me wherever I needed to go. This is before Ubers so I NEVER got taxis and always navigated numerous night buses to get home.
He was right of course and I was grateful to get home safely to my bed without causing a scene.
A few weeks later I was chatting to my fellow Northern Irish pal, Nadine Coyle who told me a very similar story.
She was living in LA at the time and dating Desperate Housewives hunk Jesse Meltcalfe.
They had got into a row in a club and Paddy, who was also there, came over and encouraged the Girls Aloud star to get the upper hand by just leaving instead of continuing fighting.
We chuckled that Paddy was like a superhero saving Northern Irish girls from their terrible partners.
Paddy actually spoke about Nadine and the sexy gardener's bust up back in 2007 on Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on BBC1 Radio 1.
SUPERHERO PADDY
He said: "I've known Nadine for years. She and Jesse are always bickering. They had an argument in a club one night and I ended up dropping her home, so he wasn't that impressed with me.
"Then I bumped into them in this hotel foyer in Los Angeles and she was like 'Hey Paddy, what are you doing here? I'm going to a wee party tonight with Jesse, do you want to come?'
I bumped into Nadine at a hotel and she said, 'Hello Patrick, how are you? Have you met my boyfriend Jesse?'
'He glared and gave me that, 'You fancy my girlfriend' look. I could tell he hated me. I thought he was a bit of a tit."
"And I said 'Yeah, where's the party?' and he kind of looked at me and said 'It's just off Sunset but uh, you wouldn't know where that is'."
But he had a quickfire answer for the star.
Paddy is always someone who will stand up for the underdog and do what is right.
Kelly Allen
"I used to go out to an aunt of mine in Los Angeles whenever I was 18 for the summers and I said 'Oh no, I do - I used to landscape garden out in LA' - which I had done - but he just looked at me as if I was completely taking the waz out of him because he was the landscape gardener (on TV)!"
Paddy is always someone who will stand up for the underdog and do what is right.
In fact the first time I met him I was still a child and he came to my rescue.
I actually was only 11 when I first bumped into him when he was an aspiring TV presenter on a local kids show called SUS in 1993.
Dreaming of working in media, my mum got me tickets to be in the audience of the filming of the show at the UTV building - on the condition I took my two little brothers with me.
At six, my youngest brother Curtis was clearly too young to be there - I think we lied and said he was 10.
We were taken to a holding area and found ourselves among a gaggle of children who were all determined to get to the front of the crowd and get themselves on TV.
When the floor manager finally opened the doors, there was a rush to get into the studio and blag the best spot. In their haste, some bigger children pushed my brother over. Even now thinking back it was terrifying as he was on the floor and kids were running over the top of him.
Suddenly the dressing room door opened and Paddy walked out and, clocking what happened yelled 'Everyone stop'.
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And everyone did.
He yanked my brother to his feet and said 'Are you alright fella? Do you want to walk in with me?'
We smugly were escorted by Paddy to the front of the audience and everyone we knew saw us on TV.
Despite his warning to me that he was 'bad news' I've never seen evidence of it. I've bumped into Paddy more over the years and he's always that same chatty local lad I met back in the 90s.
In fact the last time I saw him in November 2022 he was hosting a quiz for Tourism Ireland and complimented me for my excellent knowledge about Tayto crisps. We won of course.
Cat admitted she 'slightly fell in love with him" when he flew half way across the world to attend her birthday brunch.
Speaking previously she said: 'He rang me from a pub in Ireland. Bear in mind it was probably about 2 o'clock in the morning because they had had a lock-in.
I told him I was having a birthday brunch at the Beverley Hills Hotel to which he said 'I'll see you there'. He went home, set his alarm for 5am, got up, went to the airport, flew from Belfast to London then jumped on the first plane from London to LA.'
I've no doubt the funnyman, who has always been the most consummate gentleman to every woman I know, will be snapped up quickly.
After all, how many men exist that would do such a grand gesture as that?