Kerry Katona reveals her mum gave her speed disguised as sherbet at 14

By Milly Veitch For Mailonline

10:53 30 May 2024, updated 13:22 30 May 2024

Kerry Katona has detailed how she came to abuse drugs, explaining she had been introduced to them by her mother at the age of 14. 

The former Atomic Kitten star, 43, has spoken spoke about her addiction issues in the past, previously checking herself into rehab in 2008 and 2010.

But she has now been proudly sober for 15 years and insisted that she ‘can’t sit with regret’ in order to move on.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Kerry opened up about her dependency on cocaine and how it caused her nose to collapse. 

She recently went under the knife to reconstruct her nose, after her drug abuse left her with a hole in her septum.

Showing off the results of the surgery to hosts Ranvir Singh and Richard Madeley, she explained it had been her mum who first gave her drugs as a young teen.

Discussing her addiction, she explained: ‘I think cocaine became my crutch, it was my best friend, it gave the support I needed, when I needed it. 

‘I didn’t do it everyday, I was more of a binger – once I started I couldn’t stop. And then I could go months without it. It just became my best friend because everyone was using me really.’

Detailing how dependent she was at the time, she admitted: ‘I actually OD’d at one point and got back up and took another line of cocaine straight away.’

Kerry recalled: ‘I started drugs when I was 14, before I was famous. My first drug I took was with my mum. 

‘I adore my mum and I love my mum, but we’ve had our ups and downs and my mum wasn’t really a mum. She told me it was sherbet and it was speed and I thought that was normal!’

She went on to say that she had moved on from her past however, saying: ‘My mum wasn’t very well. It is what it is, it’s happened I can’t sit with regret and hatred. 

‘I have to accept people who there are. My mum is drug free. But for a very long time I lived in a pity party, saying “poor me, the world owes me, it’s everyone’s fault but mine”. 

‘But I have to hold my hands up and take responsibility, let it go otherwise it’s like being in a rocking chair going back and forth.’

She continued: ‘Certain people and situations have had a massive impact but I think for you to truly move on from the lessons you’ve learned, you have to own them. You’ve got to let it go.’

This month saw Kerry reveal the results of her nose job, after surgeons used a piece of her rib to make her nose more stable and to correct the support inside her nostril.

Ahead of the procedure, she clarified she was in urgent need of the surgery as she had ‘three holes’ inside her nose due to her past cocaine abuse.

She explained to Richard and Ranvir: ‘I actually went in for an eye lift and Dr Raghavan told me I have hole in the middle of my nose and said your nose is collapsing.

‘My nose was always dead runny so I was always sniffing, which I felt so embarrassed about. I won’t go to the bathroom without taking one of my kids with me or I wpn’t take a handbag, because I’m so afraid.

‘The psychological effect of having surgery, especially on your face. I mean I’m like a flat pack from IKEA, I come with instructions because I’ve had so much done. But my nose, I’ve never had anything so dominant done.’ 

Kerry shares daughters Molly, 22, and Lilly-Sue, 21, with her first husband, Westlife star Brian McFadden , and has Heidi, 17, and Max, 15, from her marriage to Mark Croft.

While she welcomed her youngest daughter, Dylan-Jorge, 10, with her late ex-husband, George Kay, who died aged 39 in 2019 following an overdose.

Kerry revealed that she had shown her youngest the hole in her septum ahead of the surgery, insisting she wanted her kids to know about her story from her and not from the internet and added that hopefully she had put them off ever taking drugs themselves.

She said: I’ve have my 10-year-old with me and before I had the surgery I showed her the hole in my nose. 

‘It’s on the front cover of all the magazines, she’s at that age and the parents of her friends buy these magazines and I’d rather my children hear it from me and know what I’ve been through.

‘There’s no burying children’s heads in the sand and trying to protect them. The internet is everywhere and their friends and hopefully I’ve put them off for life.’