Katherine Ryan roots out unwanted messages from sex pests... by sharing her husband's love for his garden

Katherine Ryan’s inbox used to be flooded with unwanted messages from sex pests.

But since her husband’s obsession with gardening came to light, she now gets emails about pesticides... and lawnmowers.

The Canadian comedian, 40, has been married to childhood sweetheart Bobby Kootstra for four years, after the pair rekindled their relationship when she returned to Canada for an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

She had no idea that Bobby’s obsession with gardening would be so effective in fending off the unwelcome attention from men online.

‘Those who follow my socials will know that my husband Bobby is a Canadian man who lives and dies by the quality of our lawn, she told the My Mate Bought A Toaster podcast. 

‘I mean, whatever makes him happy. I think his lawn care obsession is adorable. And it speaks to a demographic of men who will message me on social media and say: “Oh, what kind of mower is Bobby’s?”, “What pesticide does he use?”, “How is he rooting this up?”

‘They’ll ask me lawn-related questions. I scroll back to two or three years ago and they would have been sexually explicit messages. They’re not sending me dirty pics any more, they just want to know what my husband’s doing with the lawn.’

In 2020 Katherine had to deal with unwanted sexualised comments directed towards her at the NME Awards, when she was handing out a gong to the rapper Slowthai. He proceeded to make suggestive comments. At the time Katherine was praised for her handling of the situation, telling the then 25-year-old: ‘You are younger than my babysitter,’ as he departed the stage.

During a 2022 interview with Louis Theroux she revealed she’d called out a co-star – who was later reported to be Russell Brand – for being a sexual predator. And last year she praised the British Transport Police’s response after her 14-year-old daughter and a friend were sexually harassed on the Tube.