If lockdown has achieved anything, it's that secrets were much easier to keep. Two weeks ago, we found out that Katherine Ryan - queen of comedy and bejewelled headbands - was pregnant with her second child, having previously only hinted at her happy news. Now, it has emerged that she has welcomed the baby.
And now the host has revealed more details about her bundle of joy, telling her Instagram followers that her and her husband Bobby Koostra have named their little boy Frederick Ryan Kootstra. The couple posed outside for a pic outside the famous Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in London, the same place where Prince William, Prince Harry, and many more royal babies have been brought into the world.
Sharing a post on her Instagram stories yesterday, she revealed that the baby arrived 'just before kick off' of the England v Croatia game. And as you can see, the baby looks very comfortable in mum's arms.
Katherine initially revealed that she was expecting during a live recording of her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, in Kentish Town London, at the end of May. She already has a daughter - 11-year-old Violet - and this is Katherine's first child with Bobby, her husband and childhood sweetheart who reconnected and committed to each other via a civil partnership in 2019. Katherine told the Radio Times: 'We didn’t have a wedding, I didn’t need to put on a white dress and pretend to be a virgin. That ship has sailed!’ She discussed the relationship further with Grazia.
‘It’s the cutest story,’ she said last year, ‘or it’s really sad, because we couldn’t find anyone else in 20 years.’ She returned to her home country of Canada to investigate her family history for an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? when she bumped into Bobby, whom she had dated when they were 16. ‘It started as a joke, like "wouldn’t it be funny to hook up with him?" But it backfired and now we’re married,’ she said.
She also discussed having a miscarriage last year and why it was so important that she discussed it at length. ‘I know now, when I walk down the street or go into Morrisons, there are women everywhere dealing with this, and we are just expected to get on with it,' she said. 'It helps to hear the stories of other women. We are collectively as a gender so silent about so many things but, most of the time when you don’t talk about something difficult, it’s because you don’t want to make someone else uncomfortable. It should be normalised.’
Katherine had not shared her due date, so this quick turnaround from pregnancy announcement to birth comes as quite a surprise. Speaking to the audience of the live show, she said that her main piece of advice to expectant mums would be not to reveal the exact time the baby is due. When some asked if she would cancel her tour, she offered a virtual eye roll. 'I'm just gonna let that sexism wash over me,' she wrote. 'I'm not gonna let it affect my zen. No, I'm not cancelling my tour.'
Congratulations Katherine!
READ MORE: Katherine Ryan: 'When Women Are Provocative And Passionate, We Just Get Labelled Audacious’