Brave and straight-talking as ever, Celebs Go Dating’s Kerry Katona has spoken out about various dark chapter of her past – but admits that she ‘doesn’t have regrets’ and they made her ‘who she is today’
10:00, 06 Sep 2025Updated 10:20, 06 Sep 2025
Kerry has opened up about being ‘taken advantage of’ as a teen
Kerry Katona is well-known for her colourful past and traumatic childhood – and last week, she opened up once again about some of the more distressing elements of that past – including how she had been taken advantage of and nearly became an escort at 16. Speaking for the very first time about the shocking path she almost took as a teenager, the 45-year-old revealed that she had hopes of becoming a Page 3 model as she “wasn’t going to be a rocket scientist”.
She told Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, ”I had a great set of tits. Like, I’d been modelling since I was three… so I was, like, a really good-looking kid, you know, and I had these great boobs.” Her mum, she explained, she sent off her portfolio of pictures, with the photographer asking whether she wanted to do topless photos, Kerry admitting, as OK! reports, that the snaps were “her idea”.
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The former Atomic Kitten star bared her soul on Paul C Brunson’s podcast(Image: We Need To Talk/YouTube)
It was at this point that she confessed she was even thinking about being an escort. “I even was gonna sign up to be an escort. My mum took me into a sex shop. I didn’t end up doing it… Well, there was a photographer and Mum didn’t end up coming, that’s all I can say. And he convinced me to do open-leg shots – but I’ve gone back to doing it on OnlyFans, gone back to my roots – and that came back to haunt me then, when I became famous, he sold all those pictures.”
Fans on social media have heaped Kerry with praise since her jaw-dropping revelations – one calling her “truly amazing, strong and brave” and another, “so open and transparent”. Celebrity pals have also been full of admiration for the mum-of-five, including Christine McGuinness who commented, “Turning pain into power over pity – my kinda woman!” And Gemma Atkinson admitted Kerry had made her “cry”.
And speaking to us Kerry reveals, “I did say on Paul C Brunson’s podcast that someone tried to persuade me to become an escort. That’s not something I was planning on talking about… but it came out. I never did it or anything like that, but I do remember the photographer in question trying to convince me to shoot various things that I didn’t want to do. I didn’t do it and I was very young at the time, but it is what it is. I’m not really one to talk, because I do OnlyFans now, but that’s totally different. I control that and it’s on my terms.”
Kerry met current boyfriend Paulo on Celebs Go Dating(Image: Objective / Channel 4)
The former Atomic Kitten has lived a famously turbulent life and – though parts are not easy to revisit, she feels it’s important to be honest about some of its darker chapters. “You can’t live with regrets in life, so I don’t regret things – it’s put me where I am today. I have been feeling so overwhelmed and emotional since the podcast came out because I spoke about a lot of things from my past. It’s hard to go back to that place.”
Kerry, whose new romance with PT Paolo Margaglione is finally playing out on the small screen, also opened up about her tumultuous childhood. The star, who said she was a product of an affair, revealed her mum’s many relationships over the years. Now on the road for a UK tour with Katie Price, she may be in control of her life today, with a successful TV career and her own lucrative account on adults-only subscription site OnlyFans, but she admits, it’s not always been that way.
Detailing the photographer’s photos of her as a teen, she tells OK!, “People have taken advantage of me before – like the person who did the open-leg photos of me, when I was young.”
Kerry also spoke last week about her relationship with her mum Sue, who she first tried drugs with at 14, having been told it was “sherbet”. Revealing that she and her mother had to go into witness protection to hide from Sue’s abusive boyfriend Dave, who turned out to be Kerry’s biological father, she admitted she was “terrified” of Dave and witnessed “unspeakable” things as a child.
Kerry’s mum introduced her to drugs – but she says she’s admitted she made mistakes(Image: INSTAGRAM)
But in a tearful Instagram video, Kerry urged fans not to send her mum “hateful” messages, reiterating that “we all make mistakes”. She said, “It was a very, very long time ago and I love my mum dearly and my mum is not that person any more, she’s a much older lady now.”
Kerry went on, “So if anyone is thinking of sending her any messages of hate, please don’t. We all make mistakes and my mum’s childhood was awful and it’s in the past and it’s made me who I am today.”
Kerry has been in particularly reflective form lately, raking over often painful episodes of her old life. Positive psychology coach and therapist Clare Deacon (happyacoach.com) says, “It’s interesting that Kerry’s talking so much about her past recently, particularly the element about almost becoming an escort, which seems to be a secret she has carried for so long and says she hadn’t planned to talk about.”
“Speaking out and owning her story can be profoundly validating. I often support people who’ve had to suppress their stories because it wasn’t what they “should” do or be – that feeds shame and reinforces the belief that you’re not worthy… Sharing the truth begins to dismantle that.”
It’s also about taking control of the narrative, adds Clare. “By choosing to tell her story on her own terms, Kerry’s reclaiming her power. She’s modelling growth and showing others that our previous chapters don’t define us, they are not the end of our story.”
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