Kerry Katona's late ex-husband tried to strangle her while he was driving.
Kerry Katona was abused by George Kay
The former Atomic Kitten singer has opened up about the abuse she suffered at the hands of George Kay - who died in 2019, two years after they split - and claimed he beat her every day during their relationship, even while she was pregnant with their daughter DJ, now eight.
In an extract from her memoir 'Kerry Katona: Whole Again' obtained by The Sun newspaper, she wrote about him strangling her in the car: "I could barely breathe and honestly thought I was done for, when he released his grip, pulled over, opened the passenger side door and dragged me out of the car by my hair.
"I fell, hitting my head on the door. He spat on me, got back in the car and drove off."
Kerry explained how George lashed out after she'd shared a funny anecdote during a house viewing about singer Bryan Adams urging her to eat vegetables.
She wrote: "I'm recounting the tale to George and the landlord, I had this big plate of vegetables in front of me and I didn't fancy them, but Bryan kept urging me in his fantastic Canadian drawl, 'Eat them, you have to eat your greens!'
"'And then, Bryan Adams fed me broccoli off a fork', I told George and this random landlord proudly.
"There was nothing sexual or romantic about that moment with Bryan. It was just a jokey exchange between two people who had just met and were getting along well — in front of their significant others.
"But George didn't see it that way. We left the house-viewing quickly, got in the car and as he drove off he had one hand on the steering wheel and one around my neck."
She told how the former rugby player blamed her when he attacked her while she was pregnant.
She wrote: "Even as my stomach grew, he would push me over, kick me and spit in my face. Soon after he'd apologise, tell me how much he loved me and gently let me know it was all my fault because I pushed his buttons. And then I'd be the one apologising."
In another extract, Kerry - who also has Molly, 21, Lilly-Sue, 19, Heidi, 13, and 12-year-old Max from her previous marriages - revealed she secretly fell pregnant to an actor named Mike shortly after leaving George, and considered a termination before deciding to keep the baby, but she then suffered a miscarriage while working in India.
Explaining how she was warned she'd be sued if she didn't turn up to the gig, she recalled: “I remember feeling the blood running down the inside of my thighs as I belted out Atomic Kitten hits.
“I was taken to hospital again, in this foreign country, where I was told the foetus was still in me and she still had a very, very faint heartbeat.
"There was nothing the doctors could do. I stayed in hospital for a couple of days until eventually there was no heartbeat anymore.
“The doctor said that the dead foetus could stay in the womb for up to three months before it would fall out naturally.
“I was on the verge of miscarrying, as that child had not survived, but I suppose technically in the end I did have a termination, as she was removed from my body by a kind doctor.
"Now remember, at this point I was a mum of five, my babies were – and still are – absolutely everything to me and it went against every single maternal instinct I had, but I knew this child was not meant to be.
"Even now, I can’t bring myself to refer to her as my daughter. It’s not me being heartless, it’s just my truth. A bleak, sad chapter in my life.”
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