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Former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie's ups and downs in the spotlight
The Gold Logie winner has barely known life outside of the public glare.
Australian actress Kate Ritchie has grown up in the spotlight. She found fame as a child star in Home and Away when she joined the show from its inception at just eight years old.
But leaving the soap behind didn't mean walking away from her fans. She expanded her career into radio as well as still taking on acting roles, but her personal life wasn't as smooth sailing.
Here we look at the highs and lows of Kate Ritchie's remarkable career.
Early Success
Kate's talent was recognised early when she was cast as the child lead in Channel Nine's miniseries Cyclone Tracy. But it was her next role that catapulted her into the public eye. In 1987, just a few months shy of her ninth birthday, Kate started work on a new soap set in NSW as Sally Fletcher, the foster child of Tom and Pippa Fletcher.
"I remember when my mum told me I got the part of Sally. I didn't want her to tell anyone because I was really embarrassed," she told UK magazine All About Soap.
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Australians watched little Sally, and of course Kate, grow up over the years, but it wasn't until she was playing Sally as an adult that she won awards for her work.
Height of Fame
Kate was first nominated for a Logie Award for playing Sally Fletcher in 2006 after she'd been playing the role for almost 20 years.
That year she was nominated for the Silver Logie Award for Most Popular Actress and the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. While she took away the Silver Logie in 2006, she would win the Gold in both 2007 and 2008.
In her Gold Logie speech in 2007, Kate revealed just how much it meant to her.
"I'm forever having people come up to me [and] say they have watched me grow up on television," she said.
"It much more rewarding just to do exactly what you believe is right and follow your heart. This award means... I'm doing that."
Leaving Home and Away
After winning the Gold Logie again in 2008, Kate decided that it was time to move on from Sally Fletcher
"My decision to leave Home and Away could draw many similarities to breaking up with the boyfriend you just knew you had to," she told the Herald Sun.
"Summer Bay HAS existed for me... I struggle to remember what life was like before I knew that place. I grew up there," she revealed.
"I well and truly know the girl that is Sally Fletcher. If only I had realised earlier she wasn't my enemy, she wasn't the embarrassing little sister always trying to spoil my fun but, in fact, the best friend I ever had."
When she appeared on Anh's Brush With Fame in 2021, she'd had a little more time to reflect on what her career on the soap had meant to her.
“I didn’t know where she ended and I began or vice versa, and I had to work out whether I was more than that,” she explained.
“She gave me purpose and a sense of achievement [but] I thought the only thing I’d ever done of value in my life was when I was her. I was lost, and I wondered how I was going to survive without her,"
She also met her husband, rugby league footballer Stuart Webb in 2008. The couple married in 2010, and in 2014 they had their daughter Mae.
Finding her place
Life after Sally Fletcher was pretty successful for Kate too.
Kate moved into radio and became part of the highly successful breakfast team on Nova FM.
She still got to do bits and pieces of acting work too, including Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, Cops L.A.C. and Mr & Mrs Murder, as well as some TV presenting.
In 2013 she moved to a drivetime slot at Nova, and the show won three major Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs)
Rocky times
But it wasn't all smooth sailing. In 2019, police took out an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) on behalf of Kate, against Stuart.
Under the agreement, Stuart was barred from stalking, intimidating, assaulting or threatening her, and he could not approach his wife within 12 hours of drinking alcohol or taking illicit drugs.
That was the beginning of the end for the couple, and after ten years of marriage, the couple split in 2020.
She later briefly dated businessman John Bell, with the pair attracting attention due to their age gap.
Kate was announced as a new judge on the 2022 season of Australia's Got Talent, which was filmed in June and July that year.
Then in August 2022, just before AGT aired, Kate was charged with drink driving after she was pulled over for a random breath test.
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"Recently, I undertook a random breath test," she wrote on Instagram at the time. "Although it was low level, the test came back positive.
"I made a poor decision, and there is no doubt I understand the seriousness of my actions. I am truly sorry."
Kate decided to take a break from her career in radio, and four months later, she booked into an exclusive private mental health clinic in Sydney to deal with her "unhealthy reliance on alcohol".
"It was a long time coming. I sought professional help, the help that I needed. Sometimes enough is enough," she told the Sunday Telegraph in March this year.
Back on track
"Life has thrown me its challenges over the last few years, but I am not alone in that," she added in the Sunday Telegraph interview.
"I was fortunate to be able to take time. I gained clarity and that is why I feel so good about coming back now," she added about her return to Nova FM joining the morning team of Fitzy and Wippa.
She has also returned to the small screen starring in the Seven Network drama series The Claremont Murders, based on the real-life story of a serial killer in Western Australia.
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