My dating fears as a slightly overweight single mum aged 45 – by Sky’s Kelly
AS a glamorous TV personality, it seems unlikely that Kelly Cates would have problems finding a date.
But the Sky Sports presenter has revealed she is daunted about looking for love in her mid-40s after splitting from her husband.
The daughter of football legend Sir Kenny Dalglish has separated from her TV producer husband Tom Cates and their divorce is being finalised.
They were married in 2007 and have two daughters, aged nine and 12.
Glasgow-born Mrs Cates, 45, said: ‘I don’t have a picture in my head of why a middle-aged, slightly overweight mother of two could possibly be attractive to somebody.
‘I can’t get my head round that. It’s not that I’m putting myself down, it’s not a lack of confidence or low self-esteem, it’s just I don’t know what that would look like.’
Speaking to fellow sports presenter Gabby Logan on The Mid Point podcast, Mrs Cates added: ‘I don’t want to spend my precious free time with a random.
‘The thought of going on a date and spending an evening with someone and at the end of it thinking, “Well I don’t really like you” – I would be so resentful of them taking up my time.
Obviously vice versa, but I’m not really bothered about it from their perspective.
‘I’ve got no real kind of thoughts about long-term relationships or anything like that. Imagine going out with somebody and you sit there halfway through and think, “God this guy’s an idiot”. You’ve just wasted a baby-sitter. I’m making myself sound completely unpickable.’
Mrs Cates said her dating options had been limited in recent months because of the pandemic and joked she may have to get somebody else to write her profile on dating websites to avoid putting people off.
The broadcaster started at Sky in 1998 after quitting her maths degree at Glasgow University.
She left to work for the BBC and has broadcast on Radio 5 Live, ITV, TalkSport, Channel 4 and Channel 5. She returned to Sky in 2016.