THIS Morning’s Cat Deeley has stunned fans by revealing her real name live on air.
Cat, 48, made the confession as she was reunited with her old teacher in celebration of Thank A Teacher Day.
Cat and her co-star had been hearing children talk about their teachers at a primary school in Surrey when she was given the surprise.
Mrs Cotterill, Cat’s own primary school teacher, suddenly appeared via video link – and she referred to Cat by her real name.
Addressing the star, she said: “Her name is Katie.”;
Ben said to Mrs Cotterill: “Because you of course know her as Katie.”;
Cat went on to explain that her real name is Catherine, but that she was called Katie when she was growing up.
“Well my real name is Catherine but my grandad always used to call me Katie and my mum and dad and stuff,”; she said.
“Unless I was in trouble, then I was sometimes Catherine!”;
Cat was delighted to see her former teacher and she was given a glowing report by Mrs Cotterill.
The teacher, who is from Birmingham, said of Cat at school: “She was very enthusiastic, a very kind child. Always wanting to help, always wanting to be involved, just actually, an all round super person.”;
Cat grew up in Birmingham and attended Grove Vale Junior School, followed by Dartmouth High School.
When she was 14, she reached the national finals of a modelling competition with BBC programme The Clothes Show.
She was signed by a model agency and it was then that her name was changed to ‘Cat’.
Bosses at the model agency decided it would be easier to give her a nickname when it came to clients rebooking her.
Cat later moved into , landing a spot on popular kids’ show SMTV: Live alongside .
She later became one of a few UK stars to crack America after bagging the job of host on ?.
In 2023, Cat was brought in as a guest presenter on following the departure of and .
Cat – who has two children with her Irish TV star husband – was later made the ITV show’s permanent host alongside Ben.
