SHE’S desperate to be friends with her ex-husband Brian McFadden, two decades on from their bitter divorce. But now those close to Kerry Katona have revealed it’s never going to happen – and for one very surprising reason.
Last month, mum of five Kerry, who shares daughters Molly and Lilly with the former Westlife star, said, “I wish Brian and I could have stayed friends. Molly went to watch him at a festival last week and I would have loved to have gone with her. It would be great to have a better relationship.”;
But sources close to Kerry have explained why that will never be an option for the Atomic Kitten singer.
“Kerry has burnt her bridges with Brian, thanks to years of speaking out of turn,”; they explained. “She’s got a heart of gold but a big mouth and that has always been her downfall.
“Kerry has a bad habit of not thinking before she speaks and it’s landed her in hot water with Brian on many occasions. She’ll say something publicly that is either outrageous or something she should have kept private between them and it gets her in trouble.
“There’s been many times her girls have asked her to rein it in when speaking about their dad, they know better than anyone how it gets to him.”;
Kerry’s got a heart of gold but a big mouth and that has always been her downfall
Kerry, 44, has publicly blasted Brian before, , a “d**k”; and , in separate interviews.
When Brian, 45, joked that his daughters must be “sick of weddings”;, due to , she retorted, “That’s just Brian for you – trying to be funny, but being a bit of a d*ck in the process.”;
And when discussing their split during a podcast in 2023, she raged, “He was a sh*t dad. I’m the one who provides for them. I didn’t get maintenance money off Brian.”;
In her most recent biography, Whole Again, Kerry said her daughters don’t have a great relationship with their dad now, even claiming her late third husband , was more of a father to Molly and Lilly.
“Brian’s their biological dad, but he hasn’t played that all important father figure in their lives growing up,”; she wrote, adding, “for all his faults, George was more of a dad to those girls than Brian ever was.”;
Our source believes it’s comments like this which stop Brian from ever being truly amicable with Kerry. She even revealed last week that he had blocked her on social media.
And she was notably absent from at the weekend, despite the fact at Lusty Glaze Beach in New Quay, Cornwall.
The girls shared a sweet Instagram story from the event, in which they looked happy and excited to watch their dad marry his partner of five years – casting doubt on Kerry’s assumption that they don’t have a good relationship with their father.
It’s little wonder Kerry didn’t make the guestlist. Brian won’t even discuss her publicly now, famously refusing to speak about her during his appearance on last year’s BBC documentary Boybands Forever.
In an incredibly awkward exchange the interviewer starts to say on camera, “Marrying Kerry, you’re sort of...”; leading Brian to quickly interrupt, “I don’t want to talk about her, no. Definitely no.”;
“That really hurt Kerry,”; the insider said. “She made jokes about it but privately she was gutted that it was shown on national TV. She and Brian have history together, a marriage and children and she’s sad he feels he can’t acknowledge it at all.
“She thinks he’s embarrassed by her and she’s probably not far wrong. But in his defence, she’s not made it easy for him.”;
While Kerry has privately told pals she’s “sick of talking about Brian after 20 years”; and wishes people would let it lie, the source says she’s still holding on to some of the kudos of being one of the ‘it’ couples in the early 00s.
They met when Westlife and Atomic Kitten toured together in 1999. Molly came along in August 2001 and Kerry and Brian were married in a romantic ceremony the following year, when Molly was four months old. Lilly was born in February 2003.
Kerry thinks he’s embarrassed by her and she’s probably not far wrong
Sadly, it transpired that on his stag do. The marriage lasted just two years.
“For a brief moment in time Kerry had it all – a successful career, a husband in a boyband and two beautiful children,”; the source continued. “She has never regretted the marriage, mainly because it gave her Molly and Lilly, but she also looks back with rose tinted glasses because they truly were living a charmed life.
“She would hang out with pop stars like Mariah Carey and get taken to the most wonderful events. She knew how lucky she was, going from being in foster care in Warrington to the wife of one of the country’s most eligible men. It’s why, in a way, she still clings on to her past with Brian. Being his friend would somehow keep that past alive.”;
Kerry herself said on the Meeting... podcast last week, “He is a part of my story and he hates that, but unfortunately it is what it is and I’m grateful to him, because I went through something with Brian that was phenomenal.”;
But for Brian, from the start.
Recalling their ill fated nuptials he said in 2007, “I woke up one morning and realised, ‘This is not what I want to do with my life, I don’t see myself being with this woman in 20 years, she’s not who I’m meant to be with, we don’t have anything in common’.”;
In a separate interview he twisted the knife further. “It wasn’t a ,”; he claimed. “We were getting married to have a big party and get loads of money for it – and to appear showbiz. The day my marriage ended was on the stag night. That was the time I felt ‘This is not supposed to be’.”;
Kerry, meanwhile, recalled her devastation over his cheating, saying, “I loved Brian and I trusted him. I remember thinking: ‘But he’s the fat one from Westlife. Why would he do this to me?'”;
Brian is now happily married to teacher Danielle with whom he shares daughter Ruby, four.
Kerry is single again since splitting from fiance Ryan Mahoney in November after a six year relationship . She was previously married to taxi driver Mark Croft, father of her children Heidi, 18 and Max, 17 and George, dad of 11-year-old Dylan-Jorge, and who died in 2019 at the age of 39 after ingesting a ball of cocaine he’d bundled into a sock.
Kerry is due to tour with pal Katie Price later this year in a ‘tell-all’ show which will feature “stories of marriage and divorce”; – words which will no doubt make Brian’s blood run cold.
