Catherine Tyldesley has spoken out after a local bakery declined the offer to make 100 cakes for the Coronation Street actress' alleged birthday party. The bakery claimed she would in return receive social media posts and exposure in a well-known magazine.
Catherine's reaction, which was shared on Instagram on Wednesday, followed on from an email posted by the founder of Three Little Birds Bakery, Rebecca Severs, on Facebook. The emails showed messages between her bakery and PR company, NVRLND, who was in charge of organising the birthday bash.
In a candid video, filmed from her car, Catherine addressed the situation as she explained that she, "had no idea those emails were being sent".
She said: "Cake gate! WHAT! So I had no idea those emails were being sent. I'm not working with the lovely OK Magazine on anything that I'm aware of and NVRLND are an amazing company.
"They've supplied me with performers in the past; They're insane and they've been completely misrepresented in this matter. Utterly bizarre, I don't really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving…"
Professional cake maker Rebecca first shared the details of the email she received last Thursday, posting a screenshot on her official Facebook page for the business.
The email read: "We are organising a 40th Birthday Party for a well-known celebrity on the 1st of September 2023 in Manchester. In return for being a supplier for the event, payment would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700K followers, as well as promoted on OK Magazine. They will be crediting all the suppliers on these platforms.
"The party has a guest list full of celebrities and industry people from tv/film and music, so loads of work would come from it. NVRLND would also use you for future events and parties."
The email then listed which cakes were required which included a "camp" 40th birthday cake with a pink, sparkles, and flamingo theme, 100 cupcakes, and a smaller birthday cake for Catherine's husband, Tom Pitfield who is also celebrating his birthday.
Whilst Catherine wasn't named in the email, her identity was confirmed to the MailOnline by another local bakery owner who was also approached with the opportunity.
Captioning a screenshot of the message, she penned: "This poor celebrity apparently can't afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women…"
Rebecca went on to share a screenshot of her reply which read: "I'm so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times they can’t afford to pay small businesses their products.
"Unfortunately as my mortgage provider doesn’t take payment 'in the form of promotion on their socials', and my staff can’t feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I’ll have to decline your very generous offer."
In a statement shared with MailOnline, the founder of NVRLND, Victoria Eames said: "NVRLND contacted Three Little Birds Bakery to offer them the opportunity to collaborate with one of our clients to cater for a party.
"As part of the collaboration, our client would cover all of Three Little Birds Bakery’s expenses and costs in exchange for social media content and local and national exposure for their business. To confirm, NVRLND are also retained on the same expenses-only basis.
"We selected Three Little Birds Bakery to collaborate with a view to support a local business and help them grow.
"Our aim is to connect small local businesses with the opportunity of growth and the possibility of a full diary which is what we have experienced when working on past collaborations. We would never expect any business to be out of pocket and nor would our client.
"Our email communication to Three Little Birds has unfortunately been completely misconstrued. Due to contractual obligations, we are unable to comment on the identity of our client."
On Monday, Rebecca revealed she had been threatened with legal action by NVRLND for "encouraging defamation", and went on to clarify that the company isn't "getting paid properly" and working on a"promotional and expenses only basis".
Talking to local radio station Rombalds Radio about the ordeal, Rebecca said: "It's really important to highlight the issue of small businesses, especially in female-dominant industries, not earning a fair wage for their time and skill, especially in the cost-of-living crisis we are experiencing."