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Kerry Katona grew up as an only child to a mother who struggled with severe mental health issues. At the age of 14, she was introduced to drugs and witnessed traumatic self-harm.
The 43-year-old former Atomic Kitten star still has a good relationship with her mother Sue, despite her chaotic upbringing. But it was this experience that pushed her to be the best mother she could to her own brood.
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As with all families, it has not been an easy road, and Kerry has had to deal with a lot of setbacks, criticism and sadness over the years.
Just last week, the star, who is engaged to fiancé Ryan Maloney, became emotional when she revealed she hadn’t seen her eldest daughter Molly, 22, in almost a year as she prepared to reunite with her.
Molly and Kerry’s second-eldest daughter Lilly-Sue, now 21 and the daughter of Kerry and her first husband, Westlife star Brian McFadden, both live in Ireland, their father’s home country, but are close to both parents.
In her latest article she writes OK! column, Kerry said, “I can’t wait to get them back.
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“I haven’t seen Molly in almost a year! We talk on the phone every day, but she just hasn’t been home to visit in a while.”
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Cruel ‘5 x 3 mom’ insult and being spat on
Kerry has five children in total from her three marriages, which has drawn a lot of unnecessary criticism, with the star having to hit back after being labelled a ‘5×3 mother’.
She responded to the dig, saying, “Nobody says anything about the fathers. I’m the one raising the kids, but I’m the one getting derogatory comments.”
In addition to Molly and Lilly, she also has Heidi, 17, and Max, 15, from her marriage to Mark Croft, and her youngest daughter, Dylan-Jorge, 10, with her late ex-husband George Kay, who died of an overdose in 2019.
Tragically, Kerry later revealed that she had been a victim of domestic abuse in their relationship, with her late ex-partner spitting on her, choking her and even hitting her when she was pregnant with their daughter.
The star became very emotional when she spoke about her abusive relationship on Loose Women in 2022, saying she would ‘let her go’. [her] children down”.
Speaking about the abuse on another occasion, she also said: “They heard the screams and saw the black eyes. Eventually I left – I just thought, ‘I can’t let my children grow up like this.'”
Kerry also admitted to Abbey Clancy on her podcast Exhibit A that her children are “so fucked up” as a result of previous abusive relationships.
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‘Googling’ birthdays
Kerry of course loves all her children, but she once joked that she has so many, she has to ‘google’ their birthdays.
But there’s actually a really heartbreaking reason why Kerry always wanted a big family, despite growing up as an only child.
Speaking to The Guardian, Kerry said: “I have so many children because I want to make sure that if anything happens to me, they support each other.
“I don’t want them to have to go through shit in their lives like I did. I want them to have it so much better.
“If they are naughty, I let them kiss, hug and make up for it. Every breath I take is for my children. They are my life.”
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Watching her own mother slit her wrists
When you think about Kerry’s own upbringing, this sentiment makes sense.
As an only child in Warrington, Kerry had an extremely tough childhood, attending eight schools, living in three shelters and being removed from foster care.
Her mother Sue suffered from manic depression, something Kerry has spoken about at length, which meant Kerry had to grow up quickly to be able to care for her.
Speaking to The Guardian, Kerry said: “My earliest memory is watching my mother slit her wrists when I was three.
“She was manic-depressive and she self-harmed until I was 15.
“She has prints all the way down to her wrists, so I got the names of my two oldest daughters, Mollie and Lilly, tattooed on my own wrists.”
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Mental health support
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“Am I not good enough?”
It was this turbulent and sometimes traumatic childhood that left Kerry feeling worthless, and she has previously admitted that her greatest fear is that her children will feel “unloved.”
Kerry said earlier: “I’ve always tried to please people, make them laugh. Sitting in front of my mother, who wanted to commit suicide because her boyfriend had died.
“I thought, ‘You selfish cow – what do you think of me? Am I not good enough?’ I always felt really worthless.
“I always wanted to please her and make sure everyone loved me, and I used humor as a defense mechanism.”
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Came into contact with drugs at the age of 14… By her mother
The now sober Kerry also spoke about how she became addicted to drugs, saying her mother introduced her to drugs at the age of 14.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain, she said: “I started doing drugs when I was 14, before I was famous. The first drug I did was with my mum.
“I adore my mother and I love my mother, but we’ve had our ups and downs and my mother wasn’t much of a mother. She told me it was sherbet and it was speed and I thought that was normal!
“My mother wasn’t so good. It is what it is, it happened that I can’t sit with regret and hate.”
Due to a history of drug abuse, Kerry had to undergo surgery on her nose earlier this year. She was open about this with her own children, hoping that they would never use drugs again.
Kerry Katona’s Cosmetic Surgery Timeline
Here we take a look at the star’s changing face – from fresh-faced pop singer to her latest £3,000 makeover.
Kerry had her first breast augmentation in 2004 and another breast augmentation and liposuction in 2008.
In 2010, she also revealed that she had tried to turn back time by changing her face.
Kerry was bitten by the vampire face virus in 2013 and feared she would die after a shocking reaction to the procedure, which was popularised by Kim Kardashian.
In 2019, Kerry caused outrage by promoting a ‘Katona Package’ at a London clinic, offering ‘2ml of facial filler and one area of fat reduction’ for £699.
When the mother of five was about to turn 40, she celebrated with fillers and fat-dissolving injections in her chin to “enhance her natural beauty.”
Two years later, Kerry joked that she had a “brand new face” after a procedure called CoolSculpting, which freezes and destroys fat cells under the skin. She had some fat removed from her chin and had Botox injections.
In 2023, the TV star revealed a firmer jawline after treating herself to a “non-invasive facelift.”
In early 2022, Kerry underwent a much more invasive eye lift and brow lift in January, which cost over £3,000.
Accused of ‘child abuse’
Her immense devotion and love for her brood makes the comments from cruel trolls even harder to bear, with Kerry being called everything from an ‘unfit mother’ to ‘scum’.
In 2021, Kerry hit back after being criticised for feeding her children takeaway meals for six months, telling The Sun that she hadn’t cooked a meal for six months.
Speaking about the number of times she ordered, she confessed: “I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed, not only as a person, but as a mother.
“…you are shamed as a mother, right?
“You know, if you don’t cook a five-course meal for your kids or bake… I don’t do any of that.”
Later she wrote in her New column she said: “I did an interview to promote the show and admitted that I was embarrassed by the amount of takeaway food I was giving the kids.
“I got a little bit of a backlash! Someone told me it was child abuse and that I was neglecting my children.
“Stop it, honey. My kids ordering sushi isn’t child abuse. It’s not like they’re eating leftovers from the trash.
“They have the privilege of serving take-out meals.”
Finally a happy ending?
Thankfully, Kerry now seems happy and settled with her fiancé Ryan Maloney, to whom she has been engaged since 2022. She was even recently photographed with a ‘wedding ring’ around her neck.
Kerry was forced to postpone her plans to flee to Vegas because her children were devastated to miss their mother’s wedding. This undoubtedly means that they have given their approval to their mother’s current boyfriend.
Kerry wrote in her OK! magazine column “Ryan and I really wanted to go to Vegas to finally get married, but Molly and Lilly said, ‘Don’t you dare do that without us.
“I told them they’d been to too many of my weddings! That put those plans on hold.”
Touchingly, Ryan proposed to her children first, and Kerry recently revealed that Ryan plans to adopt her youngest child, DJ.
A sign that Kerry could finally find true happiness. He once said, “I didn’t want to be rich and famous, I always wanted to be a mother and a wife.”
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