Kerry’s heartache over her fourth wedding
Friends reveal Kerry Katona is torn over marrying Ryan Mahoney as she struggles to let go of her troubled past
They were spotted house-hunting last week, and friends say
Kerry Katona and Ryan Mahoney are eyeing up a “marital home”, as Ryan reportedly has plans to propose.
The couple – who have been dating for over two years – moved into a rented home together shortly before lockdown, with Kerry admitting it was a “fresh start” after the trauma of her third marriage to the late George Kay.
Despite having ended things with Ryan, 31, four months into their relationship in 2018 after becoming scared of “getting too close”, friends say the pair’s relationship has strengthened through isolation – although insiders say Kerry, 39, is still secretly “torn” over the idea of a fourth marriage.
HER MR RIGHT
The source explains, “Kerry loves Ryan to bits and the last three months have only underlined to her what an amazing bloke he is. They have a fabulous life and he’s great with the kids. She says she has finally found the right man and he feels the same about her. Ryan is a mature soul and desperately wants to get married, but of course for Kerry, she’s been there, done that and got three T-shirts!
“She already thought she’d found her happy-ever-after on three occasions, and it never worked out. So of course she’s a bit scared at how marriage may change the dynamics of a relationship, and wonders if she’d be silly to rock the boat when they’re so happy as they are.
“Kerry’s in the best place she’s ever been in – mentally, physically and in her family life – and a lot of that is down to Ryan. Her biggest fear is their happiness ending, and she can’t figure out if getting married will risk that, or if it’ll mean she will never have to go through heartache again. It’s a dilemma.”
The former Atomic Kitten singer first walked down the aisle with Westlife’s Brian McFadden in 2002. After having daughters Molly, now 18, and Lilly-Sue,
17, Kerry was “shattered” when Brian cheated and dumped her in 2005. She’s even admitted that she begged him to take her back the night before her second husband, Mark Croft, proposed two years later.
LOW POINT
She said, “He was the love of my life, Brian. I’m not going to deny it. It was the first time I had a baby with somebody, the first time I got married.
It’s all the firsts.”
But after Brian rejected her plea, she married cabbie Mark and had Heidi, 13, and Max, 12, with him. She revealed they’d eloped to Gretna Green to get married when she was at “her lowestever point in life” – and it later emerged that Mark had blown her fortune.
Kerry finally thought she had found lasting love with rugby star George Kay after tying the knot in 2014, but she’s since confessed it was a toxic romance. When they split in 2014, it was the catalyst for Kerry to finally seek therapy, admitting it helped her overhaul her life and outlook. Tragically, George – dad to their daughter DJ, five – died of a drugs overdose in 2019.
Now clean and sober,
Kerry – who last week posed topless in a bath for her X-rated OnlyFans account – admitted she still bears scars of her past marriages.
During a stint on Celebs Go Dating, during her four-month break from Ryan, Kerry told the presenters she had been “burned too many times” to commit again, adding, “I believe in marriage and unity. I have desperately tried so hard for that to work, and it never worked out for me.”
Although she and Ryan reunited, Kerry admitted she was still sceptical of marriage, reasoning, “I put my relationship on pause because I was so scared.
After my first marriage broke down, I felt like a
failure as a wife and as a mother, and I was so eager to fix it that I would rush into relationships. I kept creating that pattern over and over again. But after George and I split, I learned my lesson. I had time on my own to rebuild and learn to love myself.”
OPENING UP
However, lockdown has only proven the strength of Kerry and Ryan’s romance, with her saying during an Instagram Live chat in April that her kids were even hoping they would have another sibling soon.
The source says, “Kerry was adamant she wouldn’t marry again but their time in isolation really let her open up more and she has realised how supportive he is of her and the kids. She’s now able to picture being a wife again. Therapy has helped, as she’s realised it wasn’t her fault as a wife for her marriage failures, it was her choice of husbands – but she doesn’t have that worry with Ryan.
“She’s very spiritual and believes in fate. Ryan came along at the perfect time – he has brought stability into her life and she can’t help but feel that this time really could be happy-ever-after.”
By Daisy McLure
SHE THINKS SHE’D BE SILLY TO ROCK THE BOAT WHEN THEY’RE HAPPY AS THEY ARE