These Photos of a Young Kate Chastain Offer a Rare Look Before Below Deck: “Born This Way”
Kate Chastain has come a very long way from her childhood, growing up in Melbourne Beach, Florida. The Below Deck alum, who appeared on Seasons 2 through 7, has since traded in her sea legs to live on land, becoming a mom in 2023, and buying her “dream house” late last year. But, if you ever wondered what Kate’s life looked like when she was young, we found the photo proof.
But long before all of this happened, Kate was just a bleach blonde (and sometimes brunette) Florida girl with some big dreams. Before joining the cast of Below Deck, Kate attended the University of Central Florida and graduated with a degree in Organizational Communication. It was in college where she worked in high-end dining establishments and found her natural talent for providing excellent service, according to Florida Today.
One thing that Kate has always had is her wonderful, spunky, personality, which is very apparent in the photos below. Like this adorably blurry photo of her, with a super short blonde hairdo and bangs, wearing a vintage-looking dress and oversized sunglasses on top of her head. “Born this way,” she captioned the cute photo.
Or this photo, which shows that Kate loved having fun from a young age. Just look at that super happy smile.
See Kate Chastain young in her family photos
She was also born with some serious expressions. Kate took to her Instagram Story in 2020 where she posted a series of throwback photos in which she’s hanging out with her smiling cousins while she looked so serious. “Out of all of these cousins, guess who has a bitchy resting face,” she wrote over the group photo before zooming in on herself with brown hair. “Thrilled,” she noted.
Kate’s old photos also show how much she looks like her adorable, 1-year-old son, Sullivan Cay. Sullivan also has a great sense of humor (like his mom) and can make his mom laugh so hard with all of his little antics. This throwback school photo of Kate with brown hair shows just how much she and Sullivan are twins. Seriously, it’s in the eyes.
You can also see a bit of Sullivan in this class photo of Kate, taken more than 30 years ago. In the photo, Kate wears her school uniform and smiles in the front row. “Front and center….I loved those loafers,” she wrote in the caption of the Instagram post.
More throwback photos of Kate Chastain
Once Kate was a little bit older, the personality never left her. In fact, it helped her in her yachting career, as she never took herself too seriously or her job for granted. “I was probably the worst stewardess in the history of yachting, but it felt like I’d won the life lottery,” she told The Sun in 2020. “It felt like I was living at a very exotic, cool summer camp for attractive, international people.”
But Kate herself is very cool, as evidenced by the throwback photos below. For one Halloween, Kate dressed as the supermodel, Kate Moss, wearing a dark green dress to the club.
Although Kate clearly knows how to have fun, as seen in both of these photos, she is very driven in her career. “I started in yachting about seven years ago,” Kate told Florida Today in 2014. “I was a laundry stewardess and worked my way up to chief stew. It would take someone about two years of experience before they’re ready for their chief stew job. It really takes a lot of organization. I learned a lot of it the hard way.”
