Kerry Katona only agreed to a date with Ryan Mahoney because she wanted a “free meal”.
Kerry Katona
The 40-year-old singer – who has Molly, 19, and Lilly, 18, with first husband Brian McFadden, Heidi, 13, and Max, 12, with second spouse Mark Croft and six-year-old DJ from her marriage to the late George Kay – wasn’t interested in finding love again because she was focusing on rebuilding herself but her friend Danielle Brown “forced” her into meeting the personal trainer, and she’s pleased she agreed.
She told Closer magazine: “After my past relationships, I spent a lot of time learning to love myself. I had to learn to love me before I could get into another relationship.
“I didn’t even want to start seeing anyone again. I only went on a date with Ryan because Danielle forced me to and I fancied a free meal!
“It was a real slow burner for me. I didn’t think I was ready.
“But I was learning to love myself and, as a result, I found Ryan.”
The couple have now been together for two years and got engaged last summer, and the former Atomic Kitten singer insisted this relationship is different to any of her others.
She said: “It really is different this time.
“It feels right because I finally love myself and know that he loves me for me.
“We are still planning to get married in Las Vegas – fingers crossed.”
Kerry felt she needed a long break from relationships because she kept making the same mistakes.
She explained “I needed to work on myself – I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again because I kept getting the same result and I didn’t want that any more.
“The thing I did differently was learning to love me and to surround myself with people who were worthy of my time.
“I thought I deserved getting a black eye from George. I thought I deserved to be married to a drug dealer like Mark.
“With George and Mark, that was the self-worth I thought I deserved.
“That’s how little I thought about myself and how little I loved myself.
"I had no self-worth, so I needed to be single."
Tagged in Kerry Katona Mark Croft