Kate Ritchie’s gorgeous photoshoot with adorable daughter Mae

KATE Ritchie has posed for a series of beautiful photos with her daughter Mae while affectionately recalling her days on Home and Away.

Kate Ritchie and daughter Mae pose for The Grace Tales. CREDIT: Julie Adams.

KATE Ritchie has compared Home and Away to an “old boyfriend” while affectionately recalling her days on the Australian soap for The Grace Tales.

Posing in a series of gorgeous photos with her adorable two-year-old daughter Mae for the site, Ritchie was asked about her most vivid memory from the program, which she starred in for two decades.

“What I remember most clearly and what I continue to carry with me is a very warm sense of family. A feeling of security that I miss to this day and a basic joy of doing something I absolutely loved,” she said before joking: “It can be tricky to explain to people the sentimental attachment I have to Home and Away without sounding somewhat tragic and unstable!”

Ritchie reads the children's book she wrote to daughter Mae. CREDIT: Julie Adams.

The 38-year-old, who now hosts the national drive program on Nova FM alongside Marty Sheargold and Tim Blackwell, compared the long-running soap to an “old flame” — one she would never go back to.

“I have often likened it to an old boyfriend. Not one of mine in particular … but an old flame that you knew you just had to leave,” she said. “Not because you didn’t love them but because you weren’t growing together anymore. Someone you continue to hold in your heart no matter how many years pass … sigh. It’s okay to remember them fondly (and maybe even love them from afar) but it’s probably best for everyone involved that you never go there again.”

“She loves me purely because I am her mummy” ... Kate cuddles Mae. CREDIT: Julie Adams.

In the wideranging interview, Ritchie spoke about her two-year-old daughter Mae and wondered whether the tot would ever be inquisitive about her mum’s past career.

“(I wonder) Whether she will ask questions or want to see the old episodes I have on VHS! I don’t think she will ever understand the enormity of it or what it means to me but nor should she be expected to,” she said. “I have often marvelled at the fact that she is pretty much the only person who has come into my life who doesn’t have some kind of preconceived idea of who I am.

“She knows nothing of my history. My past triumphs or tribulations and she absolutely adores me regardless. She loves me purely because I am her mummy. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s wonderful.”

Ritchie will return to the radio studio with co-hosts Sheargold and Blackwell this year, but says she’s open to other projects too. And while a return to Home and Away may not happen in the near future, she’s on the look out for other roles.

“I am continuing to write and have my fingers crossed for a stint back on the small screen,” she says.

Originally published as Kate Ritchie’s gorgeous photoshoot with adorable daughter Mae