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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
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Verity Sulway

Kerry Katona rebuilt career and found love after This Morning humiliation and Iceland axe

Kerry Katona hit rock bottom during her notorious appearance on This Morning in 2008, when her "slurring" appearance sparked concern that she was drunk.

The Atomic Kitten star has since insisted medication for her bipolar disorder had affected her speech, but says the interview damaged her career irrevocably.

In an interview with Closer magazine in 2018, Kerry admitted she was still haunted by the interview with Phil Schofield and Fern Britton.

She said: "The criticism I got, the judgment I had because of my slurring still sticks with me today.

"No one believed it was my meds that made me slur, but it was – instead they assume it was the drugs and that's the reputation I got.

"I still get so badly criticised – it's such a fickle world. Because of that time I'm still trying to get production companies to believe in me again."

Kerry Katona's appearance on This Morning in 2008 sparked a huge backlash (ITV)

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She said that the backlash she received after the show aired made her suicidal, and admitted she found it strange that Phil and Fern "never once asked" about her mental health, considering she had revealed she was struggling with bipolar disorder.

During an appearance on Marnie’s Home Truths podcast, Kerry recalled: "Never once did they say to me, ‘Oh, oh right - what’s bipolar and what’s the medication you’re taking? I didn’t get any of that."

After the interview, Kerry, who turns 41 on Monday, was met by paparazzi at her home and said the subsequent backlash was "just awful".

"Next day, front page of the papers, ‘Sherry Kerry’, ‘Merry Kerry’. It was just awful. I was suicidal. I wanted to die, I wanted to kill myself. It was everywhere," she said.

"I remember leaving that show and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this. I can see what’s happening.’"

She continued: "That was pure bipolar medication. Coke doesn’t make you slur. I was never a really big drinker if I’m brutally honest. It was always the drugs for me.

"I’ve got no reason to lie that that wasn’t drugs – if it was, why would I say it wasn’t? It was pure bipolar medication."

She added: "Because I’m on medication, and this is mental health, no-one can see it. ‘Oh, she’s off her f**king head’."

After the show aired, Kerry refused to go on This Morning for ten years, saying the interview had "stuck with" her, though she never blamed the hosts.

The same year as the infamous interview, mum-of-five Kerry was declared bankrupt after failing to pay £86,000 of a tax bill and she told GMTV she was "skint".

Shortly afterwards, Kerry was dropped from her famous Iceland campaigns after photos emerged of her appearing to take cocaine in her home, something she publicly admitted.

The following years were equally tough on Kerry, who married Mark Croft from 2007-2011 and then the late George Kay from 2014-2017.

But after her split from George, who Kerry claims abused her during their relationship, things finally began to look up for Kerry.

Kerry's weight loss sent her confidence through the roof and she created an OnlyFans account (Kerry Katona /Instagram)

In 2018, her life would totally transform when she met hunky personal trainer Ryan, 32, - who also helped her shed two stone.

"He's completely changed everything," Kerry said on Say Yes to the Dress, where she tried on wedding dresses.

"We're all entitled to be happy and we all deserve to be loved no matter what.

"Everyone deserves a happy ever after. But it's taken me a long time to realise that."

Kerry went on: "It's not like when I was 15 I was like, 'When I grow up I'm going to get married four times and have five children with different surnames and three different dads – I can't wait.'

"But I wouldn't be on the path I'm on without those marriages. I wouldn't have met Ryan if I hadn't been with George.

"I am where I'm supposed to be right now."

Ryan proposed to Kerry in 2020 having met on a dating app three years earlier, and they are set to tie the knot later this year.

Kerry and Ryan met on a dating app and got engaged in 2020 (DIGITAL/EROTEME.CO.UK)

And with her confidence boosted by her new trim figure, Kerry created an account on OnlyFans and began selling saucy snaps online, a business venture that would pay off in a big way.

Earlier this year, Kerry sobbed outside the front door to her brand new £2million mansion, paid for by the proceeds of her OnlyFans empire.

“If you were to put a bet at the bookies if I was going to end up dead, I’d have taken that bet," she said.

"People are quick to say, ‘She’s desperate’ if I get out a bit of nipple, but I’ve made my first million since bankruptcy and I’m so, so proud.

"If it wasn’t for OnlyFans I wouldn’t have had money to invest in myself and in making more companies," she added.

And her fortune is thanks in part to foot fetishists, who paid big bucks to see Kerry's tootsies in personalised snaps.

"I just send sexy messages and pictures, but nothing more than topless," she once revealed.

Kerry Katona has teased her wedding dress in an advert for Say Yes To The Dress (Instagram/TLC)

"I’ve had loads of requests for foot selfies from people with foot fetishes.

"Some are men and women texting me their sex issues and I’m like a therapist for them – their fantasy.

"Others aren’t crude at all. They’ll see me on TV and say, ‘you’re smashing it, kid! What have you been up to today?’

"Others say, ‘Kerry you’ve really helped me through my addiction’ or ‘I used to fancy you from Atomic Kitten days’."She added: "I’ve got a great rapport with my fellas."

Kerry even said she now views her previous bankruptcy as a good thing because it helped free her of the people who were only after her money.

"I lost everything, I’ve been bankrupt twice, I lost all my deals doing drugs, lost my houses, my cars," she said.

"My first bankruptcy was the best thing that could have happened to me. All those hangers-on all just disappeared.

"Now I'm back and close to being a millionaire again and it's all for me. For me, Ryan and the kids that's it."

And while giving her Instagram followers a tour of her plush new mansion, Kerry reflected on just how far she'd come.

"The last time I lived here [in Cheshire] I was doing loads of coke, losing all my money," she said.

"I can’t believe I’ve made it. I’ve been at death’s door.

"I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without my Ryan – he’s just been amazing," she gushed.

"Me and Ryan are entrepreneurs and we’ve been creating this little empire of ours."

Do you have a story to share? We want to hear all about it. Email us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk

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