Katherine Ryan ‘dated 31-year-old man at 15 to get back at her boyfriend’

Katherine dated a man in his thirties when she was a teenager (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Katherine Ryan dated a man 16 years her senior when she was 15 years old.

The comedian claimed that when she was a teenager, she went out with a 31-year-old security guard to get back at her ex-boyfriend, now-husband Bobby Koostra, who had broken up with her.

Speaking to Angela Scanlon on her podcast Thanks A Million, Katherine said: ‘15 was not a good time for me. For anyone, but for me… My boyfriend was 31. He was the prom security guard who I started dating to get back at my boyfriend for splitting up with me. My boyfriend’s now my husband so a long old story, so it worked.’

The 38-year-old continued: ‘But my mother started dating a 20 to 21 year old guy from my town and in a small town everyone’s famous. So she very quickly became, you know the Madonna, Demi Moore, very progressive cougar of the town because older women weren’t dating younger men back then and being congratulated for it. She was going through a divorce so she became really stressed. 

‘And I describe her like a white-knuckled Ariana Grande because she just shrunk into this little, not just shrunk – like I’m thin now, but just all go a sudden, looked like an actual Barbie doll because, my mother’s very beautiful. 

‘And then she tried on my trousers and she said, “isn’t it funny, Katherine, your shirts are too small for me, but your trousers are too big.” And I thought, yeah, that is funny.’

Katherine soon left her hometown of Sarnia, Canada, saying: ‘Some of us, and I don’t disparage these people or look down on them, I don’t think I’m better than anyone who is satisfied with a wholesome country living, you know, ordinary if you want to call it that, lifestyle. I think that’s wonderful. Simple things should fulfil you. But I felt very scrutinised in that town. I really felt eccentric, like an outsider. 

Katherine and Bobby now have a son together (Picture: Backgrid)

‘I just had a vibe that people didn’t like me and anytime I tried to participate outside of my small little musical theatre circle or wherever, the large majority of the town just looked at me like I was mad and I didn’t want to be that way anymore. I think a lot of people feel like they haven’t found their tribe. So you go to a big city or you leave and then your numbers are better and you’re bound to find like-minded friends.’

Eventually she moved to the UK with her Canadian boyfriend, who was also a comedian, and they had a daughter together, Violet.

However, the couple split when Violet was two, and Katherine raised her daughter as a single mother.

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Over the next few years, Katherine built her profile on the comedy scene and made it big after Jimmy Carr invited her on 8 Out Of 10 Cats in 2012, going on to be one of the most famous faces on comedy panel shows in the UK.

And in a twist out of a rom-com, Katherine reconnected with her teenage boyfriend Bobby – who she lost her virginity to aged 16 – while visiting Toronto.

Eight months after they spent the night together, the high school sweethearts got married in Copenhagen, and earlier this year they welcomed a baby boy, Fred. 

Katherine is currently touring the UK, with dates scheduled until May 2022, and she has just released her first book, The Audacity.

Listen to Thanks A Million with Angela Scanlon on Apple, Spotify and all podcast providers.

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