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Kate Thornton has spoken out about her ex boss Simon Cowell (Image: Getty)
When news broke of Kate Thornton's departure from hosting X Factor, many fans were left in shock.
At the time, the 51-year-old journalist, who recently landed a role at Greatest Hits Radio, admitted she felt “embarrassed and humiliated” after reports surfaced about her not returning to front the ITV show. Kate was replaced by Dermot O’Leary after the third series.
Speaking on the In The Pink podcast with Natalie Pinkham in 2020, she shared her disappointment that Simon Cowell hadn’t reached out to her directly, expressing a desire to have at least had the “dignity” to resign herself, as she felt blindsided by the situation.
She explained: “They didn’t renew my contract having said that they would — and by they, I mean Simon. It’s his show, it’s his gig.
“There’d been speculation in the press that I was going to get the push and I’d asked if that was the case and if it is, please can you just give me the dignity of resigning, don’t throw me out as a cheap headline, because hopefully our friendship and our history would qualify that I mean a little bit more than that. That didn’t happen.”
Kate admits she was left 'humiliated' after being axed from the singing show (Image: Getty)
The former This Morning star admitted she has moved past the hurt and acknowledged that "that's just how it goes" in the television industry, although she admitted it was quite embarrassing at the time.
Kate said: “It hurt more that somebody that I considered to be a friend hadn’t been up front with me. It was very public. It was on the News at Ten. It was embarrassing, it was humiliating and it kind of burnt for a bit.
"Then you process it, and you go 'I’m not letting this define me'."
Kate Thornton now presents her own podcast and a show on Greatest Hits Radio. (Image: Getty)
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The mum-of-one continued: “It’s tough and you develop the skin of a bloody rhino and I’m only grateful it happened in a time pre-social media otherwise, I’m sure it would have hurt a lot more now. That would’ve really hurt.”
Just this month, Kate revealed the exciting news she is hosting a new afternoon show at Greatest Hits Radio. She said about the new venture: “What an honour to be trusted with the reins of the afternoon show on Greatest Hits Radio!
“I’ve loved being a part of the weekend family here for over two years now so it’s a real privilege to be coming to weekdays and spending three hours a day with our ever-growing army of fabulous listeners.
"I can’t wait to get started and look forward to you all joining me for a chat, a good laugh and some great music from this November."
English (US) ·