Kerry Katona reveals she developed alopecia after her stressful split from ex Ryan Mahoney and admits she still struggles with hair loss
Kerry, 44, and personal trainer Ryan, 36, separated in November after six years together, citing a 'breach of trust'.
Now, Kerry says she was left 'exhausted' by her heartache, which saw her hair fall out in clumps towards the back of her head while she performed a gruelling schedule on stage in Cheshire in a Cinderella pantomime.
'I was doing two to three shows a day, doing Christmas panto,' she told the Daily Mail of the gruelling pre-Christmas period.
'It was heartbreak, it was exhausting. I also got alopecia. It was really stressful.'
Asked if her hair had started to regrow yet, the former Atomic Kitten star said: 'No, I'm still bald,' explaining she still has a bald patch where her hair has not grown back.
Alopecia can be temporary or permanent, and can affect the entire body or just parts of the scalp.
Kerry confirmed her hair loss was confined to the scalp, as other areas such as her eyebrows were not affected.
However, she is handling the traumatic experience with typical resilience.
'It's only hair,' she said. 'It will grow back. I wear tape extensions because it all started falling out.'
Showing the shortest areas, she joked: 'I look like a cross between the Tiger King and Garth from Wayne's World.'
In 2021, Kerry described how her hair fell out due to the extensions she was wearing, which left her hair 'fine and wispy', though her most recent hair loss was due to stress.
After her heartbreak, Kerry is back dating again, after meeting personal trainer Paolo Margaglione while filming the upcoming series of Celebs Go Dating in Ibiza earlier this year.
While she and Ryan, who she credits with raising her youngest daughter DJ, are still 'good friends' and own businesses together, she said there is no chance of a reunion for the pair.
'I would never go back to him - not in a million years,' she said defiantly. 'I know my worth.'
'I don't want to slag any of my exes off. They all make you who you are for a reason,' she continued.
'But it was a slow burner. I hung on by the skin of my teeth. I was starved for conversation, emotional intelligence and emotional availability.
'I look at him like a little brother, I really do. He brought DJ up. And I can't live with resentment or regret or anger because that just makes me an unpleasant person. I want to be the best version I can be of me.
'I wake up every morning thinking: 'How lucky am I? I'm so blessed.'
Kerry said she was devastated when Ryan broke her trust, explaining cryptically that 'he ended up somewhere he should have been'.
But she joked that she was grateful for the 'heartbreak diet' that followed their break-up.
Kerry first appeared in Celebs Go Dating in 2019, before she started dating Ryan, who she met on a dating app.
Ryan proposed to mother-of-five Kerry during a family holiday to Spain in 2020.
Kerry has previously been married three times, first to Brian McFadden from 2002 to 2006, who she shares daughters Molly, 23, and Lilly-Sue, 22, with.
From 2007 to 2011, she was married to Mark Croft, who is father to her children Heidi, 18, and Max, 17.
From 2014 to 2017 she was married to George Kay, who fathered her youngest daughter, 11-year-old Dylan-Jorge, known as DJ. George died in 2019 of a drug overdose.
Viewers can see Kerry looking for love with the help of the Celebs Go Dating experts including Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn next week.
Kerry features alongside a star-studded cast including Christine McGuinness, 37, S Club 7's Jon Lee, 43, Love Islander Olivia Hawkins, 30, and Mark 'The Beast' Labbett, 59, from The Chase.
The new series of Celebs Go Dating starts Monday, August 11, at 9pm on E4.
WHAT IS ALOPECIA?
Alopecia, which causes baldness, is thought to be an autoimmune disorder. The immune system - the body's defense system - turns on itself.
What are the symptoms?
'Typically, one or more small bald patches, about the size of a 50p piece, appear on the scalp. The hair can start to regrow at one site, while another bald patch develops. Hair may also begin to thin all over the head,' says Marilyn Sherlock, chairman of the Institute of Trichologists.
What causes it?
'For some reason, the body's immune system begins to attack its own hair follicles. Special white blood cells in the body, known as T-lymphocytes, cause the hair to stop growing,' she adds.
Can worry make it worse?
Stress has been shown to prolong the problem.
Is it an inherited condition?
There is strong evidence to suggest that alopecia, like other auto-immune diseases, runs in families. About 25 per cent of patients have a family history of the disorder.
Who gets it?
Alopecia areata usually affects teenagers and young adults, but it can affect people of any age. It is just as common among men as women.
Is there a cure?
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