Katherine Ryan has broken her years-long silence on the father of her 16-year-old daughter as she claimed he ‘never pays for anything’, hardly makes contact and ‘never makes any sacrifices’ for her.

The comedian, 42, who has never disclosed the identity of Violet’s father, tore into him this week as she admitted she no longer feels the need to bite her tongue since Violet is old enough to ‘see for herself’.

‘I’ve been careful never to s**g him off just because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,’ Katherine said on the Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald podcast on Tuesday. 

‘And I really protected him while my daughter was young. I would never say anything bad about him.

‘But now she’s 16, she can see for herself that unfortunately, he’s not a bad person, but he’s never made any sacrifices, never paid anything for her, just kind of texts her, which I think is breadcrumbing.

‘Like, “Hey, love you. How are you?” Which is better than no contact. But he hasn’t been the type of dad that you would want for your daughter.’

Katherine Ryan has broken her years-long silence on the father of her 16-year-old daughter as she claimed he ‘never pays for anything’ (pictured with Violet earlier this month) 

The comedian, 42, who has never disclosed the identity of Violet’s father, tore into him as she admitted she no longer feels the need to bite her tongue since Violet is old enough 

When asked directly if he is involved in Violet’s life, she replied, ‘Not really.’

Katherine has previously only discussed co-parenting Violet in carefully measured terms. In her 2019 Netflix special Glitter Room, she said: ‘He’s my child’s dad, and for that reason I shall never say a bad word about him.’

But speaking on the podcast, the mum-of-four did not hold back her true feelings about Violet’s father – and even joked she would excel at his level of low-effort parenting.

‘I think I would be a great dad. Like, a non-contact parent. Because it’s so easy,’ she said.

The Duchess star, who also has three younger children with her husband and fellow Canadian, Bobby Kootstra, 43, added: ‘All you have to do with a teenage girl is drive to the mother’s house, send her a text, and go, “Do you want to come get a Starbucks with me?”

‘It’s all they have to do. “If not, I’ll go get you a Starbucks. I’ll drop it off. You come to the car, I’ll give it to you, say, “hey, how are you? I love you. Here’s your Starbucks, bye.” No pressure.’

She continued: ‘I’ve heard so many dads go, “Well, she’s using me for rides. I don’t get anything back.” The flow goes one way – parent to child. There’s nothing they [children] can do wrong. Just make yourself available, make some type of sacrifice.’

‘I’ve been careful never to s**g him off just because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,’ Katherine said on the Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald podcast on Tuesday

The Duchess star, who also has three younger children with her husband and fellow Canadian, Bobby Kootstra, 43,  Fred, four, and daughter Fenna, two (pictured)

The Canadian comedian gave birth to her fourth child, a baby girl named Holland, in October 2025

‘Unfortunately, my daughter doesn’t have the dad that I would want her to have.’

Katherine said she and Violet’s father – another fellow Canadian comedian whom she had met on the comedy circuit – were already struggling in their relationship before Violet was born.

‘We weren’t really good even before that,’ she explained. ‘So as soon as I had her, I was like, oh gosh, I’m going to have to make a go of this myself.

‘I thought that being a stand-up comedian was conducive to single motherhood because you can be home in the day. And then when they’re sleeping…’

She added: ‘[Violet] came everywhere with me. The UK is so amazing for stand-up because it is small, but there are gigs in all these towns and cities every night of the week. So I started touring properly, like a small tour, when she was three or four.’

Katherine admitted she often found herself in dysfunctional relationships when she was younger: ‘I didn’t have that confidence. I was like, you’re broke? I can fix that for you. You have mental health issues and addiction? I’m a firstborn daughter, so leave it to me.’

She married businessman Bobby her Canadian high school sweetheart, after they reconnected in 2018 while she was filming an episode of the BBC ancestry series Who Do You Think You Are? in her home town of Sarnia, Ontario. 

The couple share son Fred, four, and daughters Fenna, three, and Holland, four months.