Cat Deeley’s showbiz career on both sides of the Atlantic has led to encounters from all sorts of famous names; from Paula Abdul to Rishi Sunak.
But it turns out that her private life is pretty star-studded as well. Not only is she married to comedian and presenter Patrick Kiely, she has a circle of friends that takes in radio DJ Edith Bowman and even, it seems, the Duchess of York.
Recalling a wild evening at a top west London restaurant, she told The Sunday Times: “It was so fun. I had to put Sarah Ferguson in the car.
“She was, like, ‘Don’t leave me!’ ” While Cat was living in Los Angeles, she and husband Patrick socialised with the likes of supermodel Cindy Crawford as well as Victoria’s Secret “Angel” Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and her partner Jason Statham.
Cat and Patrick decided to make the UK their main home base again partly out of a dislike of Donald Trump and partly because, as parents, they were worried about the ever-rising tide of gun violence.
She explained: “There was a moment when I was with a friend looking at potential schools for Milo and we had to ask the question nobody wants to: ‘What do you do if there is a live shooter on the premises?’ They tell you exactly what would happen, whether the kids would go to a safe room or hide under the desks… the danger suddenly becomes a reality.”
But Cat still misses her Beverly Hills home: “Never ever did I ever take it for granted. From my balcony you could see right the way down Benedict Canyon to the ocean.
“I’d sit having my coffee in the sunshine in my pyjamas surrounded by hummingbirds. At night the house glowed pink with the sunset. It was blissful.”
Still, at least returning to the UK has meant she can see more of celebrity pals such as Sarah, Duchess of York and Edith Bowman. Cat and the Scottish radio DJ are so close that at one point they were rumours to be in a romantic relationship.
She told the Thanks A Million podcast: “She said: “We were really good mates, and we are really good mates still. And it was like, ‘Oh, Cat and Edith are in a lesbian relationship.’
“Photographs of us kind of holding each other up, coming out of the Met bar or whatever was because we were p****d, it wasn’t because we were like, licking each other’s faces off.
“We are in love, but as friends kind of thing, it’s so bizarre.”