She emotionally called for fans to “say prayers” for her mum, Sue, who sadly suffered yet another heart attack last week.
Sharing the news with her 798k Instagram followers, Kerry Katona, 41 – who moved back up north last year to take care of the 61-year-old – admitted, “Huge... huge scare and we’re all a little bit shook up by it.”
Kerry also revealed her agony over not being able to visit her mum – who’s had multiple heart attacks in the past – due to her tour commitments performing as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz Easter pantomime tour.
The mum-of-five – engaged to Ryan Mahoney, 33 – added, “She’s in the right place and all the kids are going to see her today with Ryan.”
And, after repairing her fractured relationship with Sue following years of estrangement, insiders say it’s left the already fragile star struggling to cope.
A source says, “Sue’s latest hospital dash shook Kerry and left her feeling tearful. She feels like she’s living on a knife edge – the thought of anything happening to her mum is her worst nightmare, especially after they’ve grown so close. She’s been in such a great place, so this has derailed her.
“The latest scare has brought a lot of fears to the surface and caused her huge anxiety. Her friends and family, and especially Ryan, are making sure they’re there to support her through it.”
Kerry was last year pictured trying on wedding dresses as she planned to tie the knot with Ryan, with the couple talking of getting hitched in Las Vegas. But more recently she’s said she’s happy just being engaged and is in ‘no rush’.
“This scare has made Kerry want to get married as soon as possible,” the source adds.
“While she’d put it on the back burner because she couldn’t deal with the stress of the planning, this has made her realise how fragile life is and consider the devastating reality of her mum not being there to see her get married. Kerry wanted to make this her dream wedding, but watching her mum come close to death has been a wake-up call – telling pals in tearful late - night calls that she doesn’t care about fairy-tale nuptials as long as her mum and her loved ones are by her side.”
Kerry – who’s battled alcohol and drug addiction in the past, on top of mental health issues with bipolar disorder – has made no secret of her traumatic relationship with her mum.
She’s confessed her earliest memory was at three-years-old when she watched Sue slit her wrists. “She was manic-depressive and self-harmed until I was 15,” Kerry said.
At 13, the former singer recalled the horrifying moment her mum’s ex-boyfriend threatened to “chop my feet off”, which led her to enter the foster care system.
Sue’s previously admitted tricking her teenage daughter into taking the drug speed by pretending it was sherbert because she “thought it would be fun”.
But after years of estrangement sparked by their difficult relationship, the pair are now closer than ever, with Kerry telling Closer she doesn’t harbour any resentment.
“Me and my mum have a great relationship now,” she told us in 2019. “In a way, I am grateful for my past because it means my children haven’t had the same childhood as me. I used to blame my mum for my childhood... It was everyone else’s fault. But I’ve learned you’ve got to let go, move on, and learn from it.”
The source says, “Kerry and her mum have done a lot of work on their relationship and while it hasn’t been easy, they are in a place where Kerry is now so grateful to Sue and loves watching the closeness between her and her grandkids, which is something she dreamed of.”
And insiders say Kerry is on a mission to improve her mum’s health with the help of her five children, Molly, 20, Lilly-Sue, 19 – who she shares with ex Brian McFadden – and Heidi, 15, Maxwell, 13 – from her marriage to Mark Croft – and seven-year-old Dylan-Jorge, aka “DJ”, whose father George Kay tragically died from a drug overdose aged 39 in 2019.
The source says, “Kerry’s taking action and the kids are insisting they’ll do whatever it takes to get Gran back to good health when she’s feeling better so that they can enjoy more time with her.
“Kerry’s reached out to a dietician who’s devised a healthy plan for Sue, and the kids are thinking of ways to help her get moving about more – even if it’s taking a walk for 20 minutes a day or playing with them in the garden instead of watching TV.
“Kerry’s determined to help her stay on the right path.”