Cat Deeley 'terrified' over shooter scare that prompted UK return before marriage split
Presenter Cat Deeley said that her husband Patrick Kielty and one of their sons getting caught up in a shooter scare was a "catalyst" for them deciding to leave the US. They later moved back to the UK after the "terrifying" incident.
Cat, 48, and Patrick, 54, who announced their separation this week, returned to London with their two children back in 2020. The former couple, who have been married since 2012, had previously lived in Los Angeles for years.
The family's relocation is said to have been prompted by Patrick and their eldest son Milo, who was three at the time, ending up in a "really scary" situation, with Cat's comments about the experience resurfacing recently. It comes amid the news that Cat found moving back to London "really hard" despite her having concerns about her life in LA.
Cat spoke about the mall incident in an interview published in 2019. Speaking to the Telegraph just "a month or so" after it happened, she said: "They had been in a Shake Shack in Century City Mall and there was a shooter scare."
She said that people were told to lie behind the counter or "pushed" into toilets, adding that there was screaming and crying in the mall. Cat continued by telling the outlet: "Then as they were all hiding, the FBI turned up with guns."
Cat added: "Paddy kept Milo calm – he didn't really know what was going on – and in the end it just turned out to be a suspect package but …" She's said to have shook her head before saying that her three-year-old had experienced that.
She's since spoken on the incident on other occasions too, including in an interview with You magazine in 2020. She recalled: "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?'"
Cat said that she hadn't understood the "enormity" of the situation as her husband was trying to keep their son calm, adding that he distracted him with Peppa Pig on his phone. She said: "As I was driving I began to see helicopters, news vans, firemen and SWAT squads." She described the situation as "terrifying" but said her son "didn't properly understand".
Speaking on ITV 's Lorraine later that year, Cat said that the incident contributed to them returning to the UK. She said: "It was kind of the catalyst." She said: "[Paddy] and Milo were stuck in a shopping centre [and] I had to go and pick them up."
Cat then continued: "I didn't know quite where they were. There was helicopters and police vans and news crews. It was terrifying, for me. [...] Everybody was y'know safe and fine, it was completely okay but it was terrifying for me."
She however shared that the couple had "always" planned to move their kids to the UK at some point, so that they could be closer to grandparents and other relatives. Cat said: "It's such a special moment in time and you don't get those times back again. So we had always thought we would bring them back here so they could know everybody in the family and friends."
And speaking to the Sunday Times last year, Cat said that she found the experience to be "really scary". The outlet reported that there had been rumours of a shooter in the area but that it turned out to be over a suspect package.
Cat commented: "I found that really scary." She added in the interview: "Then we'd go to look at schools and they say, 'This is the safe room and this is the drill if we have a live shooter on the premises.' It was very, very difficult."
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