However the 32-year-old has now turned her life around, but admits it hasn’t been easy.
Speaking with a UK newspaper about her struggle with bipolar, she admitted:
‘Today I can recognise the symptoms but it’s still very hard to keep them under control.
‘When I have a high, I’m quite manic. I love spending money and I talk at a million miles an hour.
‘But when you’re on a low, you feel there is no hope. I don’t want to talk to anyone. It’s almost as if you don’t want to exist any more.
And the former Atomic Kitten star is concerned her four children may inherit her disorder.
Kerry, who is engaged to boyfriend George Kay, has Molly, 12 on Saturday and Lilly-Sue, 10, her children with Westlife’s Brian McFadden, and Max, 5, and Heidi, 6, her children with cab driver Mark Croft.
‘They are growing up very fast and I worry now that they might have the same mental health issues,’ she explained.
‘I want to know if my kids are at risk or if my traumatic childhood was really to blame. I wanted to know if it was genetic, if it was post-traumatic stress or my childhood.’
The mother-of-four recently filmed Kerry Katona: My Depression Diary for Channel 5, to understand more about her her illness.
‘It was a very difficult thing to do but I wanted to understand more about why I am the way I am,’ she revealed.
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Despite being declared bankrupt for a second time last month, the reality star has decided to come off medication, and embarked on a healthier lifestyle.
‘After years of therapy, I’m finally in a much better place than I have been. The endorphins released into your body when you exercise give you a natural high.
‘I went to a bootcamp and when I finished I felt like I’d come out of a coma.
‘The way I live my life has changed completely. I power walk with my dog or the kids every day. I like circuit training. I eat healthily and drink protein shakes.’