KERRY Katona’s daughter Heidi breaks down in tears as she admits: “I saw things as a child I should not have seen.”
The Atomic Kitten star's turbulent life has been well publicised over the years; from relationships to an abusive partner and financial struggles that left her bankrupt twice over.
But although she's now turned her life around and is a millionaire thanks to OnlyFans, 18-year-old Heidi insists: "I couldn't do OnlyFans. Mum has said I can't do it either.
"It is not the route in life I want to take, I want to be a lawyer or a property developer.
"Mum sometimes struggles with men seeing her in that sexual way. I wouldn’t like that at all. I’ve not paid to see her pictures on there, that would be weird, but I know what she does."
Heidi is speaking out today, in her first interview, to hit back at the critics who have called former Mum of the Year Kerry a “prostitute” and “trollop”.
The teen says: “They should realise Kerry Katona is now rolling in it - she drives a Lamborghini.
“I couldn’t be prouder of her. She has worked so hard. People forget OnlyFans is just a new thing; she has been singing, doing reality work and TV appearances for nearly 25 years.
"She has never stopped. She put us through private school, we go on amazing holidays, she just bought me clothes for the weekend.”
OnlyFans has helped pay for a five bedroom detached house in Cheshire, too.
Growing up down the road in Warrington wasn’t so luxurious.
Kerry, 44, grew up in foster care, did topless modelling and lapdancing to pay the bills before getting her singing break.
She has had her own reality shows, won I’m A Celeb, appeared on Big Brother and Dancing On Ice.
But that turbulent life has seen Kerry go to rehab for a cocaine addiction that was so severe she had to have nose reconstruction.
Heidi says: "I’d be stupid to even try drugs after what mum has been through - I know how destructive they can be.”
She was too young to remember Kerry going to rehab but she has always been honest with her kids about taking them.
'Very anti drugs'
Heidi says: “I am very, very anti drugs.
“At school there was this older boy, I thought he was cute until I overheard him say, ‘You know that Heidi Katona's mum, she's a coke head. She probably does drugs in front of her kids too’.
“I was upset, it was cruel; of course I’ve never seen mum doing drugs.”
But what she has seen is difficulties during Kerry's relationships.
Kerry has children Molly, now 23, and Lilly, 22, with first husband Westlife star Brian McFadden and Heidi and her younger brother Max, 17, shared drug dealer dad Mark Croft.
Kerry’s third husband George Kay was father to her youngest daughter, DJ, 11.
Heidi, who has ditched the surname Croft for Katona, saw George as her dad.
I've never understood why someone would want to bully - or hate on - someone’s parents like that. It’s rude, plus, I can't control what my mum does
Heidi
Throughout our interview Heidi is upbeat, positive, chatty and straight-talking but it is when we mention George that tears come to her eyes - and she talks about the things she saw as a child.
George violently attacked Kerry and once even threatened to kill DJ by injecting her with heroin. They split in 2015. Years later, at just 39 he died of an accidental drug overdose.
Heidi says: “I am grieving for him. But I also saw my dad hitting my mum. She didn’t realise at the time how much I saw.
“That is not nice, it was horrid, and has an effect on who I am now. I saw things as a child I should not have seen.
“Mum sent me to a therapist but I don’t see the point of it.
“I try to be tough. Like mum I use humour to cover things up, but it’s not always easy."
Petite Heidi has had to be tough when defending Kerry.
She says: “There was one time I was walking through Alderley Edge when a group of lads started shouting, ‘Your mum is a sl*g...a prostitute’.
“They started following me. I wasn’t scared, I was angry. Mum has always told me to tell people like that where to go.
"I respond to abuse by saying, ‘Tell your dad to unsubscribe then!’, or, ‘You know that Lamborghini my mum drives… your dad helped pay for that’.
“Sometimes I say, ‘Obviously, you’ve noticed that she's rich? Yeah! She’s doing great’.
“I've never understood why someone would want to bully - or hate on - someone’s parents like that. It’s rude, plus, I can't control what my mum does.”
'Struggling for money'
Even pensioners have attacked Kerry.
Shaking her head Heidi says: “I was in a cafe, and this woman started chatting to me about celebrities and said, ‘Do you know who I can’t stand…that Kerry Katona, she’s a right tramp, a trollop on OnlyFans’. I didn’t say a word.”
Kerry and her, clearly intelligent, daughter are a joy to watch together; laughing and sharing jokes, with a relationship that looks more like friends than mother and daughter.
She’s done glamour before, she’s been pictured with her boobs out, there’s not a huge difference. This way she takes control and makes money from her sexuality
Heidi
But their teen years couldn't be more different. Kerry had started taking cocaine at 14 while Heidi only went out in Manchester for her first “proper” night out in February to celebrate her 18th because, unlike many of her friends, she “never went down the fake ID route”.
She says: “In the loos women were openly taking cocaine. They asked if I wanted some…no thanks! I thought, ‘If you want to do it, fine, but I don’t even want to see it’.”
And although she never wants to see her mum on OnlyFans she gave her backing to the idea when Kerry suggested it during Covid lockdown.
After speaking to her then fiance Ryan Mahoney, who she split from last year, Kerry sat her kids down and said: “I want to do OnlyFans - tell me if you have a problem with that’.”
She explained exactly what the subscription site was.
Heidi says: “Lockdown meant her other work had stopped. We all agreed she should do it, she’s a grown woman who makes her own decisions.
“She bought us all Airpods with her earnings. I thought, ‘This is great’.
“She’s done glamour before, she’s been pictured with her boobs out, there’s not a huge difference. This way she takes control and makes money from her sexuality.
“We didn’t know at the time that she was struggling for money. She has hidden a lot from us over the years.”
Heidi knows she is luckier than Kerry was growing up because “mum will never let us forget that”.
Now she has decided she wants to be famous and knows Kerry can help her.
She says: “People will scream ‘nepotism’ but mum can only open a door, I have to make a career work.”
She embarrasses me in front of boys and I can recite her catchphrases before she even comes out with them
Heidi
Heidi, who has appeared on The Voice, has her head screwed on. She is also doing A levels in sociology, psychology and criminology and looking at universities but would love to sing or go on I’m A Celeb.
She doesn’t feel she has “enough life experience” for Love Island and wouldn’t want her mum seeing her kissing on TV.
But she would have had Love Island type lip filler - if her mum had her own way. Laughing, Heidi says: “When I was about 13 I told mum I wanted them done.
“So when I turned 18 she was like, ‘Right, I’ve spoken to the clinic, the doctor will do your lips… get them done, I think you should, they will look amazing’ I said, ‘No!’ I’d changed my mind. But she was like, ‘Go on. Why don’t you?' For now I am happy as I am.”
Life in the Katona household does seem happy. But surely Kerry Katona star has some faults?
“Yes, she does,” laughs Heidi, “She embarrasses me in front of boys and I can recite her catchphrases before she even comes out with them.
“She can be so loud too…but then so can I.
“I couldn’t ask for a better mum. She’s my best friend - but I never tell her that or I’d never hear the end of it.”
