Why Kerry’s fourth marriage may be for keeps
After troubled relationships, Kerry’s finally found her happy ending with Ryan Mahoney. Psychotherapist Noel McDermott reveals how
She was as famous for her marriage woes and relationship dramas as she was for her music and TV career – but in recent years, Kerry Katona’s turned her life around and is happier than ever with personal trainer Ryan Mahoney.
The former Atomic Kitten star, who turns 40 this week, has been dating Ryan, 32 – who she met on Tinder – since 2018, after she split from her late third husband George Kay in 2016 and stayed single for two years to get her life back on track.
The mum of five – who has bipolar disorder and has struggled with drug addiction in the past – has dubbed Ryan “the most caring, loving, supportive, driven, dedicated and loyal person” she’s even known. Just last week, she told fans just how happy she was, writing, “I’m so happy and grateful for everything and everyone in my life... past and present!”
TYING THE KNOT
Closer recently reported that Kerry had even been wondering about tying the knot with
Ryan, with a source saying he “desperately wants to get married”, while she felt she had “finally found the right man” and was “able to picture being a wife again”.
Psychotherapist and life coach Noel McDermott tells us that he believes this relationship is for keeps and that a happy fourth marriage is in store for the formerly-troubled star.
He says, “It’s very different this time and seems much more likely to be long-term
and real. While she may be understandably anxious about getting married for a fourth time, I really think that Kerry has had a transformation. If the next step for the couple is tying the knot or perhaps the joy of starting a family of their own, then Kerry seems to be in a great place to do so.
“A key change in this relationship is that she’s kept things reasonably low-key and a bit hidden from public view and taken it slowly. She’s paced herself, kept her emotions in check and been more rational. And there’s a power in privacy – what goes on between the two of you is the most important thing. Relationships aren’t for public validation.”
It’s a far cry from the highs and lows Kerry – who has Molly, 18, Lilly-Sue, 17, Heidi, 13, Max, 12, and Dylan-Jorge, six – has faced over the years. She married first husband – former Westlife star Brian McFadden – in 2002, after just three months of dating. However, they split after having Molly and Lilly in 2006 – with a heartbroken Kerry admitting she begged him to stay with her.
She then rebounded with second husband Mark Croft, who she married in 2007 and went on to star in her own reality show with. They broke up three years later after Kerry became bankrupt, and Mark later admitted he’d “bled her dry”. Kerry also claimed Mark had been her drug dealer and enabled her addiction – which he denied.
She got engaged to rugby player George Kay in 2013 after six months of dating and had daughter Dylan-Jorge, before getting married in 2014. But the pair split two years later, with Kerry claiming he’d been physically abusive towards her, which he strongly denied. He tragically died from a drugs overdose last July.
Speaking to Closer after her split from George, Kerry said, “I’ve got to focus on myself now. I’m happy being in a relationship with me. If I were to get into a relationship again, they’ll have to be somebody really special now to win my love. I’ve been hurt so much. My children are my number one.”
TOXIC CYCLE
Four months after meeting Ryan, she put the brakes on their romance, saying at the time, “Ryan was lovely… but I’ve been through so much heartbreak that I just don’t see the point. I don’t want to let anybody in. I’ve gone from two extremes – marrying men and having babies to now cutting them off when it gets serious.”
However, the pair rekindled their relationship six months later and she told us last December, “Ryan is unlike anyone I’ve dated. He’s very quiet, very private, very shy – the complete opposite to me really... It’s a normal relationship and it took me a while to get used to that. I’m extremely happy.”
Examining how Kerry was able to turn her life around, psychotherapist Noel says
that, of all the changes that she made, the most important of them was breaking her ‘love addiction’ cycle.
He says, “Kerry previously had co-dependency issues and ‘addiction’ to being in a relationship, but she’s turned things around. In the past, it seemed she used relationships and love to help ‘fix’ her – to complete her life, rather than complement it. It was a toxic cycle that she needed to break in order to find happiness.
“The best thing she did was take time to work on herself, step back from dating, and remain single for long enough to be able to learn to accept herself and become truly comfortable with just being on her own.
HAPPINESS
“Being alone means you can reflect, deal with the pain of past relationships, and assess and identify what went wrong in the past. It seems Kerry came to realise that she really would be all right on her own, or, if she were to meet someone new, what she was really looking for in a partner. “The fact that she jokes about her past relationship mistakes in a light-hearted way shows she has acknowledged and accepted her past behaviour, and recognised it was wrong.
“It seems that Ryan is very different from her previous partners and is right for her, so their relationship has progressed at a steady pace and organically. She deserves this happiness.”
❛ THE BEST THING SHE DID WAS TAKE TIME TO WORK ON AND ACCEPT HERSELF ❜