Secret wedding to his partner of 24 years, agent Cath Mason

Frank Skinner has secretly married his long-term girlfriend.

The 68-year-old comedian has been with talent agent Cath Mason for 24 years. The couple have a son, Buzz, but Skinner recently revealed that he'd proposed to Mason four times without success.

However, the comic, who had a reputation as a ladies’ man when he was younger, has now revealed that he's got hitched.

'Can you brace yourselves?' he asked listeners of his Frank Off The Radio podcast. 'You'll never guess what I did on Monday: I got married. I got fucking married!

For his audibly shocked co-hosts Emily Dean and Pierre Novellie, he added: 'Don't be offended, we didn't invite anyone. Buzz was a witness. We got married not in a room but on the stairs at Camden Town Hall.

'I said to Cath, "Will you marry me?" and she said "I'm not having a fucking party! I don't want a load of guests. I'm not going in a church. I don't want a ring. I'm not wearing a stupid fucking white dress"'.

To which the comic agitatedly replied: ‘I'm not doing this! … Oh, forget it.’

He added ‘Then about two weeks later I said, "Okay we'll do it your way". I felt bad for the friends. I would have invited everyone.'

Skinner, who lives in Hampstead, North London, added: 'We went for a walk on the Heath in the morning and I said "Why are we doing this?" She said "I don't know. Shall we not do it?" I said "They're gonna be upset aren't they, the witnesses." We hadn't told anyone else to be upset, and we actually did think, "Shall we not bother?"

'The thing that no one ever says about getting married is it's quite embarrassing. How can I put it? It's a bit basic getting married. We've been together 20-odd years. Cath's not gonna wear a big white fluffy dress.

'We hadn't told anyone except our child - I think you have to have them now, it's a modern marriage! Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue… and your children!

'Anyway, we walk up the stairs me and Cath, and they said to Buzz "Just plug your phone in there and you can play the music. So we entered to Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul by The Fall. That sounds gimmicky, like getting married by Elvis in Vegas, but in fact The Fall meant so much to me and Cath when we were in our early days, so it was actually quite an emotional thing.'

When asked what his wife wore, Skinner replied: 'She just wore a flowery dress. She moaned about that. I said "you can't have leggings!" When she was stripping away all the things we couldn't have at the wedding, I said, "Can you at least wear…?"

‘She said "I'm not changing my name and I'm not wearing a ring. I don't wear jewellery", which is true. She said, "If I wear a ring, I'll feel trapped." I said, "You'll be married, you're supposed to feel fucking trapped! That what it symbolises. It's like a shackle!"

'This was the most difficult thing and this just isn't me and Cath… what you have to do is hold hands, both hands, and face each other… like we're gonna do The Gay Gordons!'

The practising Catholic stand-up also recalled that there had been a thunderstorm immediately after the service and that they'd returned home to find cracks in their ceiling and their bed soaked, 'a bad omen'.

He and Mason met when she was working for his management company, Avalon, with Buzz arriving in 2012. Skinner previously wed Lisa Jones in 1990 but the marriage was annulled soon afterwards.

Skinner explained to Dean and Novellie, ‘Me and Cath, we don't hold hands unless… I mean, as I get older! So that was difficult. We had to look each other in the eye, and I know she's thinking, "Why are we doing this?" Anyway, I'm holding both her hands, I mean come on it's like a fucking seance! And then we had to repeat the vows.

'The last time I took vows I was renouncing Satan and all his empty promises! So there I am promising to not shag other women - not in so many words, but to be faithful and loving and all that. And then … one thing Cath isn't great at is PDAs. There were two women doing it who were lovely and very accepting of the fact that we had Green Day while we sat in the registry! That was Buzz's choice.

'She said, "You may kiss the bride". I kissed Cath. I'm not kidding you it was like kissing a reluctant employee under the mistletoe. I thought, "You're my wife now!" Anyway, the wedding ended. We played Container Drivers by The Fall.'

Wen asked why he has tied the knot now, he reflected: 'I don’t know why. I just thought, "Maybe I’ve got too much money, I’ll give her half in about five years time!" I don’t know why we got married.

'It wasn’t even like a tax thing, so I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, and by the time I do die Reform will be in and there’ll be no Inheritance Tax!'

He added: 'The night before I got married, I lay in my bed thinking "If she fucks off and takes my money, I could end up in a piss-covered bed in a council care home in my 80s, with no money and nothing."

‘But what’s great about our relationship is I could have those thoughts and come down and tell Cath on the morning of our wedding and she’ll say, "Yes, I know what you mean", and then we still go and get married! We were alright with that; it was the holding hands and looking at each other that we didn’t like!'

Skinner also reflected on winning a Golden Lobes legend award for his podcast last week, revealing that he hadn't been primed to deliver an acceptance speech and that the trophy he received was engraved with 'best scripted', a category that hadn't been recognised on the night.

Speculating that the award had been a panicked recognition by the organisers, he lamented: 'I've got this for fucking turning up! I've turned up and they've said "Oh man, Frank Skinner is here … we've got to give him something".

'I am absolutely 100 per cent that's what's happened.'

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 16 May 2025