Adele Roberts brought the house down with her stunning performance on Dancing on Ice on Sunday night. The radio DJ earned the highest score of the series so far after her moving routine with skating partner Mark Hanretty.
Members of the audience were moved to tears by the emotional performance, including Adele's partner Kate Holderness, who was sitting in the studio audience. But who is Kate and how long have the couple been together? Keep reading for all we know...
Who is Adele Roberts' girlfriend Kate Holderness?
Kate Holderness is an actress and vlogger who has enjoyed a steady TV career since 1997. Her first acting gig was on the CITV show Knight School. In 2013, she appeared in several episodes of Coronation Street as Jamie Lee. She moved over to the BBC where she starred in period dramas Henry VIII and his Six Wives, in which she played his final wife Catherine Parr, and 2017’s Elizabeth I. She's also enjoyed roles in Heartbeat and Emmerdale.
How long have Adele and Kate been dating?
Adele and Kate fell for each other after meeting in 2004 when Adele was a presenter for Kate's local radio station, Rock FM, in Lancashire. Chatting about the early days of their romance during an exclusive interview with HELLO! in 2022, Kate said: "I'd seen a girl DJing at a nightclub and decided it was my calling, too. But it turned out the universe was calling me to Adele. When I asked a friend if she knew of any DJs who could teach me, she introduced us. The moment we met, I felt like I already knew her, that I’d found my twin soul."
"I felt the same," Adele added. "I'd never been good at relationships, but with Kate I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Since then, we've barely been apart. We’d stay up all night talking and within the first week were discussing marriage. I thought I’d loved before but with Kate it's on a different level; she’s the first person I’ve fallen in love with. I took her to meet my family, which I’d never done with a partner before."
How Adele's girlfriend Kate supported her through her cancer diagnosis
Adele was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer in October 2021, which led to an operation to remove a tumour and chemotherapy.
Following Adele's cancer diagnosis, Kate shared a post on Instagram, admitting there had been "lots of tears (mainly from me), lots of sleepless nights, but surprisingly there's been a lot of laughing too".
Whilst chatting with HELLO!, Adele explained how her diagnosis brought her and Kate closer together. "It sounds strange but it's brought us closer than ever," she said in 2022. "I've always loved Kate, but since my diagnosis I've seen a different side to her. She's my counsellor, my mentor and the best nurse ever. She helped me when I could barely walk and had to shuffle into work at Radio 1. She’s my absolute hero."
Kate added that Adele's illness "unleashed a strength in me I never knew I had".