The reason Katherine Ryan chose to enter into a civil partnership with her childhood sweetheart

Comedian Katherine Ryan says she entered into a civil partnership with her partner, so she did not have to “pretend to be a virgin.”

The star, 36, reunited with her childhood sweetheart Bobby Kootstra after bumping into him after 20 years apart.

“I entered into a civil partnership,” Ryan told ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’.

"It's perfect having a civil partner.

“We didn't have a wedding, I didn't need to put on a white dress and pretend to be a virgin, that ship has sailed!”

The couple went to Denmark because that was “quickest and cheapest”, she said. “It was a lovely day.”

But at first not everyone was happy about the union, with her daughter, Violet, 10, letting her feelings known.

“My daughter didn't want me to be in a relationship because it had just been the two of us against the world for a really long time,” Ryan told the ITV show. “She was not trusting of my decisions.

“She put Chanel glasses on and moped around Tivoli Gardens but we thought it was funny about an hour after it happened.

“She flipped out, genuinely flipped a table,” she continued.

“She is happy now though, it worked out.

“It's a beautiful thing because she really loves him and it means she trusts me again, I actually made a good decision for once.”

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The Canadian-born comic, quipped that it was a prompting from the UK’s media that lead to the partnership: “We found in the press that we were engaged but we weren't engaged ...

“I thought that was a pretty good idea and he was probably going to get kicked out of the country soon!”

The interview comes after Katherine seemed to hint about the event in September on social media.

She shared photo of herself in some beautiful gardens, wearing a mint green ruffled Valentino dress and a pearl encrusted headband, which she simply captioned “Wifey”.

The comedian went on to share another image of her and her partner, with a nod to the famous wedding rhyme “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”

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Theresa May announced in 2018 that all couples in England and Wales will be able to choose to have a civil partnership.

The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday at 10.10pm on ITV.