When we arrive at Kerry Katona’s beautiful Cheshire mansion for Closer’s Christmas photo shoot, quite fittingly there is a blanket of snow covering the manicured gardens. “Come on in,” she beams, welcoming us into the cosy new home she, fiancé Ryan Mahoney, 33, and her five children moved into earlier this year.
The house is filled with scented candles, fir trees and twinkling lights. This is Kerry’s first Christmas living back up north since she left 13 years ago, and she says she feels like she’s come home.
The star’s previous well-documented tumultuous past – which includes battles with drug and alcohol addictions and bipolar disorder, two bankruptcies and a rocky love life with two divorces – seems firmly behind her.
Kerry, who turned 41 this year, reveals her relationship with Ryan has finally brought her complete contentment for the first time.
Check out: a look back at Kerry Katona's career from the beginning
Kerry Katona's career timeline - slider
1 of 15Kerry Katona: Atomic Kitten
From 1998 to 2001, Kerry Katona rose to fame when she joined girl group, Atomic Kitten. After three years in the band she decided to quit but not before they achieved five top ten singles - including their hit Whole Again.
2 of 15Kerry Katona and Brian McFadden
At the start of 2002, Kerry married former Westlife member Brian McFadden and they had two daughters (Molly and Lilly-Sue) together. They met during the Smash Hits tour and were engaged after three months together. However after two years of marriage, Brian McFadden filed a divorce from Kerry Katona and in 2006 it was finalised.
3 of 15Kerry Katona: Loose Women panel
Kerry became a Loose Women panellist between 2003 and 2004, alongside Carol McGiffin, Kaye Adams, Sherrie Hewson and Claire Sweeney.
4 of 15Kerry Katona: Queen of the Jungle
In 2004 we saw Kerry Katona as a contestant on I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. She appeared on the third series of the show, where she was voted the first ever Queen of the Jungle. Kerry won against English journalist and presenter, Jennie Bond and Peter Andre.
5 of 15Kerry Katona and Mark Croft
In early 2007, Katona married (for the second time) taxi driver Mark Croft. During their marriage they welcomed Heidi and Max into the world, however it was around this time that Kerry became bankrupt. Then in 2009, the pair broke up but later on reconciled. However, in 2011 a divorce was filed and confirmed.
6 of 15Kerry Katona's reality shows
Between 2007 and 2009, Kerry Katona had three reality shows which aired on MTV – Kerry Katona: Crazy in Love, Kerry Katona: Whole Again, and Kerry Katona: What's the Problem?. They all followed key moments in her life, such as her marriage to Mark, welcoming Max into the world and her bipolar disorder.
7 of 15Kerry Katona: This Morning interview
During her second marriage, in 2008, Kerry had her infamous This Morning interview with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton. Kerry has said that it "destroyed" her career and she had to get TV companies to trust her again. And in a recent video uploaded to her YouTube channel, Kerry explained, "[The medication I was on] was really really strong… It was the only safe drug I was allowed to take… but it affected my speech." She added, "Because my speech is slurry people actually think I was drunk on the show… but that was pure medication and that's what winds me up."
8 of 15Kerry Katona: another reality show
In 2010 Kerry starred in two more of her own reality shows Katona: Coming Clean and Kerry Katona: The Next Chapter. During the shows she was honest about her battle with addiction, the realities of her relationship with Mark Croft and how she turned her life around.
9 of 15Kerry Katona: Dancing on Ice
In 2011, Kerry appeared on our screens as a contestant on the sixth series of Dancing on Ice and she partnered with professional ice skater Daniel Whiston. Unfortunately she was eliminated in the week 5 skate-off.
10 of 15Kerry Katona: Celebrity Big Brother
Following her appearance on Dancing on Ice, Kerry became a contestant on the eighth series of Celebrity Big Brother. She appeared alongside Jedward, Amy Childs and became runner-up to Paddy Doherty.
11 of 15Kerry Katona: The Big Reunion
In 2012, Kerry reunited with Liz McClaron and Natasha Hamilton for a TV series The Big Reunion which featured other groups such as Five and B*Witched. The popularity of the show led to Atomic Kitten going on a UK arena tour in 2013. After a whirlwind five years together, Katona decided to leave the group again in 2017 - leaving them as a duo.
12 of 15Kerry Katona and George Kay
In 2014, Kerry married her third husband rugby player George Kay, who she had Dylan-Jorge with. Shortly after their wedding it was reported that Kerry and George were on the rocks for various reasons and they ended up briefly splitting. They tried to save their relationship and even renewed their vows, but in 2017 they called quits on their turbulent marriage. In 2019 George sadly passed away.
13 of 15Kerry Katona: Loose Women... again
Kerry Katona returned to Loose Women as a guest panellist in 2016 for a special episode centred around mental health.
14 of 15Kerry Katona: Celebs Go Dating
In 2019, Kerry Katona starred in the sixth series of Celebs Go Dating – alongside TOWIE's Pete Wicks and Megan McKenna, and Love Island's Georgia Steel and Jack Fowler. She opened up a lot about her past relationships and even went on some very open and very awkward dates. Kerry turned up to the final show in Tenerife on her own and admitted she was happy with the journey she had been on.
15 of 15Kerry Katona and Ryan Mahoney engagement
Kerry got engaged to Ryan Mahoney in August 2020 during their holiday in Spain. The pair started dating in 2018 but split up after a few months. However, following her Celebs Go Dating stint they rekindled their relationship and the rest is history.
She says, “Fifteen years ago I wouldn’t have looked twice at Ryan because he’s too safe and too nice, but I’m a different person now. I’ll be with Ryan until the day I die. The children love him so much, and we are his world – I’m finally happy.
“There’s no drama with me any more – there are no drugs, there’s no bankruptcy, no babies, no running off and getting married. We’re in no rush to do that, but I don’t like calling him my boyfriend, I’d prefer husband. We’re just going to go to Vegas to get married – just me, Ryan and the kids.”
One thing Kerry is very uncertain about is whether she and Ryan will have any children together. Already mum to Molly, 20, and Lilly-Sue, 18 – from her first marriage to Westlife’s Brian McFadden – Max, 14, and Heidi, 13 – her children with taxi driver Mark Croft – and DJ, seven – her daughter with late rugby player George Kay – she had considered surrogacy, as following a traumatic birth with her youngest, Kerry has said she won’t risk carrying a baby naturally again.
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She says, “It’s a difficult one, I don’t want to rob Ryan of having his own biological children, but at the same time I really don’t want any more kids. I’m 41 – I have five children! I can’t think of anything worse [than being pregnant] but surrogacy I would consider, I’m definitely going to get my eggs frozen so the option is there. DJ wasn’t breathing when she was born and spent time in special care, it was traumatising so I won’t carry again.”
But with two grown-up daughters (Lilly is dating marketing coordinator Dayen Blanchard), Kerry says she would be more delighted to have grandchildren soon.
“I’d rather become a grandma now than have another kid myself!” she laughs. “If Lilly came home pregnant now, I’d happily look after it. I’d say, ‘Ryan, you’re a grandad!’”
But even the idea of becoming a grandparent doesn’t put Kerry off continuing with her current controversial passion – stripping for OnlyFans, which has already made her a millionaire.
Kerry joined the subscription-only web service during the first lockdown and says her Christmases have completely changed thanks to the new financial freedom it’s brought.
“Thanks to OnlyFans, I said to the kids, ‘It’s going to be a great Christmas in the Katona household, kiddywinks’,” she laughs.
“It’s been amazing for my career, I haven’t stopped working,” she says, “For me, it’s no different to a lot of shoots I’ve done in the past. I started off as a Page Three model so I’ve just gone back to my roots. When I first did it, I said to the kids, ‘I’m going to do this and I’m going to go topless – if anyone has any problems, let me know’. Our Lilly said she wasn’t happy about it, and I said, ‘Wait until the money comes in and see how you feel about it then,’ and once the money did start coming in, they all had an iPad each and they had no problems! I’ve bought myself a Lamborghini Urus too, which comes in March.”
And Kerry is thrilled to have all five children – including Molly, who lives in Ireland with her grandparents to attend college – home for Christmas this year.
The former Atomic Kitten star will make the most of her one day off during the festive season, spending the rest of her time performing in panto in Oldham. where she is playing Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
“I’ll get home on Christmas Eve after panto and we’ll wrap all the presents and crack open a bottle of champagne. This year it’s me, my mum, our Andrew [Kerry’s uncle] and then Ryan and the kids,” she explains. “The kids get up in the morning and I’ll get my camera ready and film their faces as they come downstairs and see the presents. For me, that’s my magical moment. I do a lot for charity and for refuges, but I do go over the top with my own children and why shouldn’t I? They’re my kids. It’s amazing.”
The rest of Christmas Day is normally a flurry of food, dancing and relaxing.
“I go around with a bag furiously tidying the wrapping as the kids open their presents,” laughs Kerry. “We stay in our pyjamas all day, chill out and eat chocolate. Then we have our dinner, a glass of a champagne and maybe a bit of a dance, and just chill out. I’m usually in bed by 9pm!”
But Christmas hasn’t always been this joyful for Kerry. She grew up as an only child and her mother, Sue, struggled with addiction, which meant Kerry spent time between refuges, foster homes and council homes, and she says she didn’t have traditional Christmases.
She says, “I remember when I was nine, my mum and I had just been rehomed from a refuge. It was Christmas Day and we hardly had any furniture and no decorations whatsoever. I had some coloured paper and had made a paper chain to put up. The people from the refuge knocked on the door with a bin bag of second-hand stuff and I was over the moon. There were things like a scented heart that you put in your knicker drawer, cans of corned beef and beans, and a Batman game.”
WATCH: Behind The Scenes: Kerry Katona's NAKED weight loss photoshoot!
But her difficult background made her determined to find success. Kerry joined Atomic Kitten aged just 17 and went on to find herself on the covers of magazines weekly. She also starred in adverts for supermarket chain Iceland, which made her a millionaire. Unfortunately she was later declared bankrupt in both 2008 and then 2013. And Kerry says paying for her children’s Christmas presents hasn’t always been easy.
“I’ve struggled some years to buy them presents, but now it feels amazing to be able to do what I do for them.”
Not only has her new financial success helped Kerry – who is currently renting – move back up north, where she intends to buy a home soon, but it’s also allowed her to invest into businesses, including her clothing range, Kerry’s Boutique, dating app Marnii and her own fitness platform, M-Fit.
Now, the star – who has had liposuction, a tummy tuck and two breast reductions in the past, including one earlier this year – but currently has no plans for more, says, “I’m learning to be happy with myself. I’m on a mission to be healthy and be comfortable with who I am. I just want to make the most of my life and enjoy it. This is definitely the happiest I’ve ever been. Before, I was so desperate to be loved, this is now me knowing who I am – and I love it.”
Get the best celeb interviews in Closer magazine each week.