Kerry Katona

Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona (previously McFadden; born 6 September 1980) is an English television presenter, writer, magazine columnist and former pop singer with girl band Atomic Kitten.

Biography

Kerry Katona was brought up by her mother (who Katona claims was a habitual alcohol and drug abuser) and her first memory was of her mother's attempted suicide. When she was very young she was placed in care and raised by four sets of foster parents. During that time, she went to eight different schools.

She left school at age 16, to become a stripper and then joined a dance troupe that toured Europe. She gained fame for being a member of the girl group Atomic Kitten. However she left in 2001 when she became pregnant. The band enjoyed limited success in the UK, but the group had a major hit in South East Asia with Cradle while she was a member. She later admitted to never singing on any of the group's songs, although her spoken voice was featured on the group's biggest hit "Whole Again" which reached #1 shortly after she left the girl group. In 2001, nude photographs of her appeared in the UK tabloid newspaper The Sunday Sport.

After Atomic Kitten

On January 5, 2002 she married Westlife star Brian McFadden at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rathfeigh, County Meath, becoming Kerry McFadden. The couple had their honeymoon in Mauritius and have two daughters: Molly Marie McFadden (born August 31, 2001, Dublin, Ireland), and Lilly-Sue McFadden (born February 3, 2003, Dublin, Ireland).

After marrying McFadden, she moved into television, appearing on and presenting a mix of light entertainment programmes such as Britain's Sexiest..., Loose Women and Elimidate. In February 2004, Katona won the third British series of reality TV show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and in July of that year, Brian and Kerry appeared together on The Keith Barret Show. She also appeared as a judge on the RTÉ talent show You're A Star, which was used to select Ireland's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

McFadden and Katona separated in September 2004 and Kerry reverted to her maiden name. McFadden wrote a song on his solo album Irish Son called Be True To Your Woman about the failed relationship. The divorce resulted in a period of depression and drug abuse for Katona for which she went into rehab.

In June 2006, Katona and McFadden were discussing custody over their children because of Katona's admitted drug abuse. Kerry told BBC Radio 4 that she has been clean ever since her stint in rehab.

After Brian McFadden

Katona has since starred in an Irish drama called Showbands. In July 2005, she headlined My Fair Kerry on ITV, where she was taught airs and graces to transform herself from ladette to lady. Despite the title of this program, the conclusion she publicly drew from the program was that "airs and graces don't mean nothing when you've got kids to look after."

In 2005, Dave Cunningham, a former teenage sweetheart, moved in with her for seven months before the relationship ended. Katona is now married to builder Mark Croft. Katona and Croft were married at Gretna Green in Scotland on Wednesday, February 14 2007 in a private ceremony with 2 friends as witnesses. She was almost 8 months pregnant when they tied the knot. She gave birth to a baby girl named Heidi Elizabeth Croft on February 20 2007, six days after her wedding. She was born at Warrington General Hospital weighing 5lbs. The baby was six weeks premature and delivered by Caesarean section after Katona went into labour early. On January 4th 2008 Katona had her daughter's name "Heidi Elizabeth" tattooed on her neck.

She announced in late September 2007 that she was expecting her fourth child, her second with husband Mark Croft. She was feared to have suffered a miscarriage but further examination found the foetus was still alive and is due in May 2008. On December 30th 2007 Katona announced that her fourth child is to be a boy named Maxwell Mark.

Although her celebrity status has declined, Katona has a regular column in OK! Magazine, has had the job of being the spokesperson for Iceland frozen food stores in newspaper and television advertisements and has also been paid to promote Asda. She is represented by publicist Max Clifford.

She is a Patron of The Shannon Bradshaw Trust, a charity based in Warrington, helping children with life-threatening conditions, and their families.

Taken hostage

On July 15, 2007 Katona, her husband, and their daughter were taken hostage at their £2.5 million home in Wilmslow. Three home invaders held them captive and threatened to kill them, they also threatened to rape and sexually abuse them, taking the family's mobile phones to make sure they could not contact anyone. Katona was held at knifepoint downstairs whilst the other men forced her husband to show them where the valuables were kept. None of them were physically harmed but the burglars eventually left with a blue BMW and other valuables, the total loss being in the region of £100,000-150,000. The family moved in with relatives but soon returned to the house, which they moved into about two months before the attack. On 19 July, 2007 Police found the car, which was not damaged, 10 miles away on Reeves Road in Chorlton, Manchester. Kerry and Mark have since bought an alsatian dog to guard their house.

On July 19, Katona was admitted to The Priory hospital suffering from bi-polar disorder. Her spokesman, Max Clifford, stated she had suffered from the disorder for some time but her recent symptoms were brought on by the armed robbery.

Katona is currently involved in a legal dispute with her former husband Brian McFadden attempting to gain custody of their daughters.

Controversy and criticism

Katona has been criticised for smoking during her pregnancies. She was spotted having a cigarette while pregnant with Heidi in 2006, which led to Kerry's spokesman admitting that she was still smoking four cigarettes a day and "desperately trying to stop altogether." However, she also admitted on more than one occasion that she was still smoking during her fourth pregnancy in 2007. She also said that she had consumed alcohol during this pregnancy. Her comments resulted in The Foundation for the Study of Infant Death (FSID) warning Katona that her baby is up to 15 times more likely to die from a cot death as a result of her smoking. The British Heart Foundation also provided public warnings which condemned Katona's decision. Katona continued to defend her behaviour after these statements were made.

In August 2007, it was claimed that Katona had refused to take a drugs test to prove that she was fit to look after her children.

In the later months of 2007, it appeared that Katona's popularity with the public had declined. She was voted the second worst celebrity mother in a poll in September, was forced to deny being on drugs following an unusual appearance on GMTV in October, and in November, she was voted the most irritating individual in Britain. In December, her Iceland advertisement was voted the second worst celebrity ad. Later in the month, she said that she felt "victimised" by the public and insisted that she did not deserve to be called a bad mother.

Appearing on the 12 February 2008 edition of Channel 4's Richard and Judy show, Katona admitted that she used to take cocaine but claimed that she had not taken any drugs for the past three years. She also claimed that the press were constantly making up stories about her and the reports of her losing her position as spokesperson for the Iceland chainstores were untrue and that she was in the process of renewing her contract with them.

Bibliography

Emily Herbert wrote a biography about Katona in September 2005 called Kerry: Story of a Survivor.

Katona released her own autobiography on October 5 2006 titled Too Much, Too Young with ghostwriter Fanny Blake and Kerry's mother who consented to have her story told as well.

... I put my mum's life story in the book as well ... so people could understand my mum ... my mum was involved in the book heavily ... I asked my mum if I could do the book first ...

In October 2007, Katona is due to release her first novel. Tough Love follows the story of the Crompton family and will be published by Ebury Press. She will also be releasing a further two novels about the Cromptons in Spring 2008.

• Katona, Kerry (5 October 2006). Too Much, Too Young: My Story of Love, Survival and Celebrity. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780091913908. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Katona, Kerry (1 March 2007). Survive the Worst and Aim for the Best. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780091917548. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Katona, Kerry (18 October 2007). Tough Love. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780091923198. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Katona, Kerry (3 April 2008). Rough Justice. Ebury Press. ISBN 9780091923242. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Discography

Date	Title	UK Chart
Albums
March 16, 2000	Right Now	39
Singles
1999	"Right Now"	10
2000	"See Ya"	6
2000	"Cradle"
2000	"I Want Your Love"	10
2000	"Follow Me"	20
2001	"Whole Again"	1 (4 weeks)

TV Show - Crazy In Love

Kerry and Mark have filmed a reality tv programme for MTV One called Crazy In Love. The first two episodes aired on Sunday 17 February.

External links

• Kerry Katona's biography at Random House
• Kerry Katona at IMDb