Cat Deeley never takes her children "for granted" because she feels lucky to have been able to have become a first-time mum at 39.
Cat Deeley has opened up about being a mum
The 47-year-old TV presenter is mum to sons, Milo, eight, and James, six, with her husband Patrick Kielty and Cat has revealed she wants to make sure she's around for them when they are growing up.
She told the Sunday Times newspaper; "I was an older mother, 39 when I had Milo. Because I didn’t know if I was going to have children, I don’t take them for granted. I want to be there for them."
Cat and Patrick started their family while they were living in the US, but they recently moved back to the UK and now live in London and she now admits she found the move "really hard".
However, Cat insists the move was necessary because she felt their adopted hometown of Los Angeles was becoming increasingly unsafe.
She explained: "It doesn’t feel as safe as it used to be. There’s an edge, which wasn’t there before. The health system is failing miserably. After the pandemic there are lots of vulnerable people with severe mental health issues that have just fallen through the net."
Cat was also disturbed after Patrick and Milo were caught up in a shooting at the Century City Mall in LA and it made her more aware of the country's issues with gun violence. She added: "I found that [the mall shooting] really scary. 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."
Cat previously opened up about the mall incident, telling You magazine: " 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?'
"He wanted to keep Milo calm, so I didn't understand the enormity of what was happening. As I was driving I began to see helicopters, news vans, firemen and SWAT squads. It makes me go funny now. It was terrifying."
Asked what they were like when she found them by the roadside, Cat replied: "Paddy was shaken by it, more than Milo, who was hot and cranky but didn't properly understand."
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