Nottingham Post

I can’t explain it but suddenly it dawned on me, I just knew, George was dead...

Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona bravely opens up about the moment she learned her abusive ex had died

-

ONCE labelled ‘the nation’s sweetheart,’ Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona rose from foster care to stardom, but soon found herself judged and ridiculed as mental health problems and bad decisions derailed her life.

In her new book, Whole Again, which tells her life story over the past 10 years, she opens up about her doomed marriage to third husband George Kay who she tied the knot with in 2014. Stuck in an abusive relationsh­ip she felt powerless to leave, Kerry finally found the strength to cut ties with a man whose mental health problems and drug abuse threatened to destroy her and her family.

Kerry says she could never escape the fear that George would one day return. When a call came out of the blue in 2019, some tragic news was to end her nightmare once and for all... agreed she’d lock up and came off the phone. My breathing was getting heavier – there was nothing to stop him going to the house, or trying to take DJ. The kids would be powerless if he turned up! The phone rang again. It was my thenmanage­r, Paul.

I can’t explain it, but suddenly it dawned on me. I just knew. My heart sunk. I turned to Ryan as the phone buzzed in my hand. “George’s dead,” I said. “What are you on about?” Ryan was always calm, no matter what. “It’s probably George himself calling you now to wind you up. He’s probably on one, it’s the weekend.” “It’s not George, Ryan, it’s Paul.”

I answered the phone. Paul spoke first. “Kerry, darling, where are you?”

I didn’t even bother to answer. “You’re calling me to tell me George is dead, aren’t you?”

He paused. “I am, love. He’s gone.”

My first thought was: how the hell was I going to tell the children? And in particular, how was I going to tell my five-year-old her daddy is dead?! My heart ached for DJ and for George, who would now never have the chance to meet again. But Ryan, he kept on holding me. Who does that? Who consoles a girlfriend as she weeps over the death of her estranged husband? It was a sign of what a good man Ryan was.

It turns out George had died after eating a ball of cocaine he’d stashed in a sock. After everything he’d been through, that was the way he went out. Mental illness and drugs had finally taken him.

 ?? ?? Despair: George and Kerry
Kerry Katona, who tells her life story in new book, Whole Again
Despair: George and Kerry Kerry Katona, who tells her life story in new book, Whole Again
 ?? ?? Kerry with Atomic Kitten bandmates Liz Mcclarnon and Natasha Hamilton in 2000
Kerry with Atomic Kitten bandmates Liz Mcclarnon and Natasha Hamilton in 2000

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom