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Katherine Ryan Says Single-Parent Stigma Kept Her From Returning to Canada

She characterizes a recent early melanoma finding after a mole removal as routine, not a battle.

Overview

  • In a new Guardian interview, Ryan says she felt shame about being a single mother and hesitated to visit her hometown of Sarnia, citing judgments about women as "gatekeepers" of fatherhood.
  • Ryan moved to Britain in 2008 with a then-boyfriend and had her daughter Violet in 2010 before the pair split, and she has not publicly confirmed Violet’s father.
  • She is now in a civil partnership with her high-school sweetheart, Bobby Kootstra, and they share two children, Fred and Fenna.
  • Ryan says tests on a mole removed last year showed very early melanoma and emphasizes it was minor, noting a prior Stage 2 skin cancer diagnosis in 2004 that did not require chemotherapy.
  • In November she brushed off BBC viewer complaints over a crude joke on Have I Got News for You that referenced David Beckham and King Charles.