THREE years ago Kerry Katona was skint.
Work had dried up during the pandemic, and the former Atomic Kitten singer was struggling to keep afloat.
She was so hard-up she even flogged the one remaining memento from her marriage to former Westlife singer Brian McFadden - an old-style jukebox which she let go for a fraction of its worth.
But flash forward to now and Kerry, 42, is living in a £3million home in the leafy Cheshire suburb Prestbury with fiancé Ryan Mahoney, 35, where their neighbours are mega-rich Premier League footballers.
And the secret to her newfound wealth? Her raunchy OnlyFans page, which nets her tens of thousands of pounds every month.
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In an exclusive chat with The Sun, Kerry admits she struggled so much during the first lockdown she couldn't pay her rent.
"I was skint!" she exclaims. "I had to sell my massive jukebox which was a wedding present from Brian - it was the only thing I took, I just took the kids and that jukebox, which was like 16 grand.
"I had to sell it for £1,900 to pay the rent, and I thought, do you know what, let’s get my t**s out. I used to do it, so why not do it again? And it was the best thing I ever did.
"I came to the conclusion that God had given me two amazing assets in my boobs and I had better use them.
“When I was 16 my mum sent topless photos of me to The Sun’s legendary Page 3 photographer Beverley Goodway - but… they couldn’t be used in the paper.
“Now I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds on OnlyFans.”
She insists Ryan has no problem with her racy side hustle - in fact, he’s even offered up his services as photographer, along with daughter Molly, 21.
Kerry reveals: "The first shoot I did was Ryan and our Molly, my eldest. It was brilliant! We had such a laugh doing it."
Former I’m A Celebrity winner Kerry, who has five children with her three ex-husbands, is about to kick off a speaking tour of the UK and Ireland, and tells us she has never been in a better place, having overcome addiction, depression and bankruptcy.
She was also widowed in July 2019 when her estranged husband George Kay died aged 39 from a cocaine overdose. Kerry previously said their marriage was marred by violence.
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'How am I still alive?'
Kerry tells us her No Regrets tour, which starts in Manchester next month, will include lots of banter, jokes, and a few of her favourite songs, and will give her the opportunity to meet her fans and take questions from the audience.
“The timing is right to go on the road. I feel like a motivational speaker and it is the positive messages that I want to get over to as many people as I can,” she says.
“Let’s face it, I have been through it all: seeing my mum slit her wrists at the age of 23 when I was just three years old, having four different sets of foster parents, living in three refuge homes, being divorced twice, widowed, drink and drug addictions, suicidal feelings, and going bankrupt not once but twice!
I have been through it all: seeing my mum slit her wrists at the age of 23 when I was just three years old, having four different sets of foster parents, living in three refuge homes, being divorced twice, widowed, drink and drug addictions, suicidal feelings, and going bankrupt not once but twice. Sometimes I wonder how I am still alive
Kerry Katona
“Sometimes I wonder how I am still alive. Yet, here I am. It’s amazing.
“Everything I have been through I have been through for a reason – and that is to help others avoid all the terrible problems I have encountered.
“There is almost nothing I haven’t done in my life and how I have survived it all and managed to come out on the other side is advice I want to give to others.”
PTSD
Recently Kerry opened up about the ordeal she suffered in the wake of her infamous This Morning interview in 2008, where host Phillip Schofield accused her of “slurring” her words.
Kerry was in fact on bi-polar medication at the time and she said the comment left her suicidal.
Phil, 61, was kicked off the daytime show last month after lying about an affair with a much younger runner.
Kerry tells us she’s got “nothing against Phillip” because they’ve “kissed and made up”, but slammed the “aftercare” she claims she did not receive from ITV.
“I'm not jumping on the bandwagon or putting Phillip down,” she insists.
"What he's done, it is wrong, and I know there's a lot more to come, but for me, it's the overall care with people, the snobbery at ITV.
"I've definitely got PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] from that interview, 100 percent, because of the fallout, the aftermath of it. You'd think I'd killed somebody!"
Healthier lifestyle
Kerry and Ryan, who are also business partners and have been together five years after meeting on a dating app, recently spent a sun-drenched holiday in Spain where Kerry showed off her impressive two-stone weight loss.
It comes after Kerry endured an emotional rollercoaster on the E4 reality show The Celebrity Detox, which she left early because she was missing her kids.
After getting naked as part of a task, she insisted she “hated herself”, confessing she had major hang-ups after “messing with her body” with numerous cosmetic surgeries over the years.
Standing topless while being made to look in a mirror, Kerry said: "I have so much shame. I feel swollen. I hate myself at the moment, if I'm honest. The one thing I hate at the minute is myself. Honest to God."
But Kerry has adopted a new healthier lifestyle, getting up every morning at 5am, kicking off the day with meditation and yoga exercises.
She works out regularly and has shed 2st in two months on the Francis Diet.
While she’s “happy” with her progress, currently tipping the scales at 11st, she says she is eager to lose another two.
Both Ryan and Kerry - who launched their own online dating site, Marnii, two years ago, as well as a fitness app, M-Fit, Kerry’s online boutique, and a website for selling high-end watches called D3dicated - agree the outlook couldn’t be brighter.
While their partying days are over, Kerry insists work IS her social life - and when they do get time off, the pair love nothing better than visiting art galleries.
“Who’d have thought Kerry Katona loves art… but I do. And we can spend hours in a gallery just gazing at the paintings,” she says.
“Relaxing back at home isn’t all that easy because after a busy day working I am left drained because of the energy I give to people.
“So I like nothing better than putting on my slippers, taking off my bra and putting on my jammies and spending time with the children – if I can get them off their iPads!”
Kerry’s No Regrets Tour starts at the Oglesby Atrium, Stoller Hall, Manchester on July 7 and continues with dates in Kingston (July 15), Liverpool (July 29) and Belfast (July 30). Tickets are from £30 with VIP ‘meet and greet’ packages available at £135. For more information and tickets go to: stargazeentertainment.co.uk
