Kerry Katona (born 6 September 1980) is an English television personality and former singer. She was an original member of the pop girl group Atomic Kitten between 1998 and 2001, leaving before the group's success. Katona has appeared on various reality television shows, including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here (2004), Celebrity Big Brother (2011), Dancing on Ice (2011), and Celebs on the Farm (2021), as well as her own documentary series about her life on MTV UK.[2]
Early life
Katona was born in Warrington, Cheshire. Katona's maternal grandfather is Hungarian who fled Budapest to London during the Second World War.[3] As a child she was placed in care and brought up by four sets of foster parents and attended eight different schools.[4] She left school at sixteen and become a lap dancer, touring Europe.[5] She also posed topless for Page 3 in The Sun at the age of 17 and posed for the men's publicationZoo.[6][7] She also worked as glamour model, appearing in publications like New!,[8][9]Now Magazine,[10] and Star.[11]
Career
1998–2001: Atomic Kitten
In 1998, Katona auditioned for a new girl group created by OMD frontman Andy McCluskey and was chosen, along with Liz McClarnon and Heidi Range – replaced by Natasha Hamilton in 1999. The group became Atomic Kitten and their debut single, "Right Now", was released on 29 November 1999, reaching number 10 in UK.[12] Following this initial success, the group released three more singles that failed to reach the top 5 and a debut album that peaked at number 29.[12] Atomic Kitten's record label, Innocent Records, was considering dropping them because of their limited success, but were persuaded to allow the group to release "Whole Again" on 29 January 2001.[13] Katona shot the music video, but left the group two days before release because of an unexpected pregnancy and conflicts with the other girls.[14]
She was quickly replaced by former Precious singer Jenny Frost and their debut album was re-released with the new vocalist.[15] With Frost, "Whole Again" reached number one in 18 other countries,[15] and the group had four number one singles in UK, two number one albums and estimated sales of 10 million records.[16]
2002–2012: Reality shows
In 2002, Katona presented the ITV's dating show ElimiDate and appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.[17] In 2004, she won the third series of the British reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.[18] She also appeared as judge on the RTÉ talent show You're a Star. In 2005 Katona starred her own reality show, My Fair Kerry, on ITV.[19] From 2007 to 2010, she starred more five reality shows on MTV UK about her life, rehab and bipolar disorder: Kerry Katona: Crazy in Love (2007), Kerry Katona: Whole Again (2008), Kerry Katona: What's The Problem? (2009), Kerry Katona: Coming Clean (2010) and Kerry Katona: The Next Chapter (2010).[20] In 2009, she also attempted to become a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother 7 but she failed the required psychological tests.[21]
From 2002 to 2004 Katona was married to singer Brian McFadden and they had two children, Molly Marie (2001) and Lilly-Sue (2003).[32][33] In 2005 she started dating taxi driver Mark Croft, whom she married on 14 February 2007 and had two children with: Heidi Elizabeth (2007) and Maxwell Mark (2008).[34][35] In her autobiography, Still Standing, Katona said she met Croft when she was supplying cocaine to her mother.[36] They divorced in 2011.[37] On 14 September 2014 Katona married former rugby league player George Kay and had her fifth child, Dylan-Jorge (2014).[38][39][40] On 7 October 2015, Katona announced their separation after he allegedly assaulted her at their home in Crowborough and was subsequently arrested by police.[41][42][43] Kay died on 5 July 2019 after an overdose.[44]
Health and drugs abuse
Since 2004, Katona has been in rehab many times for cocaine and alcohol abuse, according to her autobiography, Still Standing.[44] In 2009, Iceland Foods and Asda supermarkets broke a long-standing €290,000 advertising campaigns deal with Katona after photographs appeared in the tabloids, allegedly showing her taking cocaine in a bathroom.[45][46]
On 15 July 2007, Katona, Croft, and their infant daughter Heidi were held hostage, when three men forcibly entered their home in Wilmslow, one of them holding Katona at knife-point while the others forced Croft to show them where valuables were kept.[52] Nobody was physically harmed, but the men left with a blue BMW and other valuables with an estimated total value between £100,000 and £150,000.[53][54] On 21 August 2008, Katona was declared bankrupt at the High Court in London after failing to pay the final £82,000 of a £417,000 tax bill.[55][56] On 2 July 2013, Katona filed for bankruptcy again at County Court in Wigan.[57]
On 8 May 2019, Brighton Magistrates' Court ordered Katona to pay a £500 fine after the school attendance rate of one of her children had fallen below 50% in 2018, but her solicitor argued that Katona did not have childcare and had to take the child to work with her.[58]
