Katherine Ryan spoke candidly to Good Housekeeping on the importance of women calling out unacceptable behaviour, overcoming shame and how she feels empowered as a mother.

The GH February cover star said it was important for women to talk openly, saying that, ‘Shame is a big part of navigating life as a woman. I feel very safe when strangers are vulnerable with me. When I share, it prompts people to share with me.’

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Jonty Davies

Katherine explained how speaking about two previous miscarriages prompted her to receive ‘so many messages’ and said she’d chosen to speak up on the issue because she ‘felt very alone and full of shame. And shame is not an emotion I’m used to’.

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Katherine has three children (Violet, 15, Fred, 3, and Fenna Grace, 2) and told us she’d ‘always felt really empowered as a mother’. However, she admitted to experiencing shame during motherhood, when she ‘was a single mother in a foreign country, because I was financially insecure and had a failed relationship. Note how we tend to use the word “failed” when, in fact, leaving him was very successful.’

Discussing how her experiences evolved as her career took off, Katherine said, ‘When I started doing television, male audience members could be weird with me. I had this following of very strange lone-wolf men… Before I had a tour manager, they’d follow me on to the train and keep talking to me. I was trying to be polite and create a boundary, but some of those interactions were scary.’

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Jonty Davies

Katherine is known for being outspoken and for breaking taboos on topics such as intimacy with her comedy. However, this wasn’t necessarily a deliberate choice. ‘I’ve always been very indiscreet; it’s a sort of impulse control issue. My phone told me that. It knows me better than anyone... If it seems I’ve broken any barriers, it’s just that culture was moving in that direction anyway. I suppose I’m a small part of that culture... I love people sharing things with me.’

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s February issue, on sale from 2 January.

Katherine Ryan’s Battleaxe tour runs from 30 January to 28 June; for tickets, visit Ticketmaster.

At Home With Katherine Ryan will air on U&W in February.