Kate Ritchie’s journey from child actor to radio star and single mum
We watched her grow up on television as she played Sally Fletcher in popular soapie Home And Away. But Kate Ritchie has dealt with her fair share of success — and turmoil — over the years.
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Kate Ritchie is one of Australia’s best-known faces, gracing our TV screens as the beloved Sally Fletcher on Home And Away for 20 years.
But the former child star-turned-radio host has been through some ups and downs in her personal life and career.
The mother-of-one took some time off from Nova’s Kate, Tim and Joel radio drive show in late 2022 to deal with her “unhealthy reliance on alcohol” after she was issued an infringement notice for low-range drink driving in August 2022.
She was fined $600 and hit with a three-month driving ban after police officers recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.06 in Pagewood.
Ritchie used her time away to seek help but was forced to speak out about the Daily Mail’s “shocking invasion of privacy” after they published pictures of her attending a rehabilitation facility in Sydney in December 2022.
“I decided to use this time to do something positive by getting the help I need from professionals who specialise in this area,” she wrote on her social media pages in December.
“It is a shocking invasion of my privacy that the Daily Mail, through their unrelenting stalking of me, has forced me to issue this public statement, in their blatant attempt to publicly shame me on a private health matter.”
But on March 9, 2023 it was announced she was leaving the Drive show, with singer Ricki-Lee Coulter named as her replacement.
As Ritchie took the next step in her career by joining Fitzy and Wippa on Nova’s breakfast show, we looked back at her life after more than 30 years in the public spotlight.
Early life
Katherine Leigh Ritchie was born on August 14, 1978 in Goulburn, New South Wales.
She was brought up in southwest Sydney by her mum Heather and dad Steve, and also has two younger sisters and a younger brother.
She started her schooling at Campbelltown North Public School and then attended Hurlstone Agricultural High School in Glenfield.
She had dance lessons and was involved with the Campbelltown Theatre Group growing up.
Her dad was a police officer and he was the one who enrolled her into an acting agency.
When she was six years old, she landed a role in a miniseries called Cyclone Tracy. But it was her new job two years later that cemented her into the hearts and minds of Aussies everywhere when Home And Away premiered in January 1988.
Home And Away
Ritchie left Home And Away in 2008 after 20 years playing Sally Fletcher on the popular soapie.
She played the youngest of Tom and Pippa’s five foster children in the fictional town of Summer Bay since she was eight years old.
In a 2017 interview with Stellar magazine, Ritchie said the decision to leave Home And Away was difficult but she had no regrets.
“I felt as though something had been ripped from me, like that security blanket. Maybe I never really realised the joy I got from being someone else,” she said at the time.
She received two Gold Logies for the role.
At the time she left the soapie, she, along with Ray Meagher who played Alf Stewart, jointly broke the Guinness World Record for longest continuous role in an Aussie drama series.
Since then, Meagher has taken out that record as he’s still on Home And Away.
In an interview on ABC’s Anh’s Brush With Fame in 2021, Ritchie revealed she struggled with her identity after leaving the show, seeking professional help.
“I think it was the other stuff about missing the character and trying to work out my identity without this other person,” Ritchie told the show’s host Anh Do.
“She gave me purpose and a sense of achievement because I felt … I feel differently now after loads of therapy, I thought that the only thing I’d ever done of value in my life was when I was her.”
Personal life
She started dating Stuart Webb in 2008, when he was playing for the St George Illawarra Dragons rugby league team — and two years later they were married.
Webb retired from footy in 2009 and he worked in the mines at Helensburgh before he retrained as a chef. They had their daughter Mae in August 2014.
After years of speculation about their marriage, the couple’s relationship broke down leading to divorce.
In 2019, it was revealed police applied for a temporary apprehended violence order on behalf of Ritchie against Webb following an incident at a Randwick home on October 17, 2019.
No charges were laid against Webb in relation to the incident.
Webb was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and ordered to have an interlock device fitted to his car for 12 months after he was convicted for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.083 and without a licence in March of that year.
The couple split shortly after that but have been spotted together a few times in public with their daughter Mae.
Around January 2021, it was revealed Ritchie was dating a security consultant, John Bell, who was 18 years her junior.
Then in December that year, their relationship reportedly ended, with sources saying they hadn’t seen each in months as she lived in NSW and he lived in Victoria.
By 2023, she was linked to a man named Chevy Black, although not much detail is known about him, and she has neither confirmed nor denied a relationship.
Career after ‘Summer Bay’
Ritchie’s career took a turn to radio in 2007 when she partnered up with then-drive presenter Akmal Saleh on Nova.
She was only in that on-air role for a few months before she was replaced but she had decided to pursue work in the radio industry.
While she was still working on Home And Away, Ritchie joined Nova 96.9’s breakfast show in early 2008, co-hosting along with Merrick Watts and Tim “Rosso” Ross.
Once she left the popular soapie, she appeared in the role of Judi Kane in the second season of Underbelly.
But then in November 2009, Ritchie decided to leave the Merrick, Rosso and Kate show to star in a new police drama called Cops L.A.C.
The show did not go well in the ratings and was not renewed after the first season, leaving Ritchie in limbo.
During the next few years, she had a few different jobs including narrating Channel 10’s Don’t Tell The Bride before heading back to Home And Away to reprise the role of Sally in 2013 to commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary.
She was also occasionally a fill-in host on Nova.
But then in November 2013, it was announced that Ritchie would replace Meshel Laurie on Nova’s drive show, co-hosting with Marty Sheargold and Tim Blackwell.
The Kate, Tim and Marty show became hugely popular, racking up a number of industry awards over the years.
This included Ritchie winning the award for Best Entertainment Presenter at the 2018 Australian Commercial Radio Awards.
“I am proud of what I have achieved throughout this radio adventure of mine,” she told news.com.au in 2018.
“I certainly haven’t mastered it but I have learnt a great deal both on and off the air and Nova keep asking me back so I must be doing something night.”
In September 2020, Sheargold announced he was leaving the drive show after 10 years and was replaced by Joel Creasey — making it the Kate, Tim and Joel show.
Ritchie took on a TV judging role for Australia’s Got Talent in 2022.
Ritchie has penned two children’s books — I Just Couldn’t Wait To Meet You in 2016 and It’s Not Scribble to Me in 2018.
She has also been the face of a number of brands over the years, including Jockey Underwear in 2019, QV Skincare in 2016 and Vaseline in 2009.
‘Unhealthy reliance on alcohol’
Ritchie was fined and also suspended from driving for three months after a low-range drink driving incident in August 2022.
“Recently I undertook a random breath test. Although it was a low level, the test came back positive,” Ritchie wrote on her socials.
“I made a poor decision and there is no doubt I understand the seriousness of my actions. I am truly sorry.”
In October 2022, Ritchie announced she was taking a break from the radio show after a “hectic” year.
In December, after the Daily Mail ran a story with pictures of her entering a rehab facility, she released a social media post talking about her “unhealthy reliance on alcohol”.
“The last year has been incredibly emotionally challenging, as well as a relentless schedule, stress, and a lack of sleep. I came to realise that this had led to an unhealthy reliance on alcohol,” Ritchie wrote.
“So I decided to use this time to do something positive by getting the help I need from professionals who specialise in this area. As everyone would understand, this is a very big step for me to take. I want to sincerely thank everybody who is supporting me.”
When the Kate, Tim and Joel show came back on air in January 2023, Ritchie had yet to return.
She posted on Instagram on January 20 saying she would be “away for a few more weeks” and added: “I’m doing well and excited for 2023.”
By March, it was revealed Ritchie decided not to return to the Kate, Tim and Joel show.
“I’ve had an incredible eight years as part of Nova’s Drive team, and I wish Ricki-Lee all the luck in the world,” Ritchie said.
She announced on March 10 she was moving to breakfast radio, joining longtime duo Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli.
“I can’t wait to wake up Sydneysiders beside two of the industry’s much loved breakfast announcers,” she said.
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