Kerry Katona recalls tough Christmas spent in refuge eating corned beef

Kerry Katona has told how a tough Christmas spent in a refuge as a child has made her determined that the festivities will be special for her own kids.

The singer and TV star recalled how one year, her mum was struggling and they were in a shelter for Christmas Day, eating tinned goods for dinner.

Katona, 40, told OK! magazine: “I always remember being in a refuge with my mum and we’d just got re-homed. I was only nine.”

Watch: Kerry Katona lived on 'ketchup butties' as a kid

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Talking about celebrating the day with her mum that year, she said that the staff at the refuge had been kind to them.

She said: “The people from the refuge knocked on the door on Christmas Day with a bin bag of second-hand toys. We got a can of corned beef and some baked beans and I was really grateful.”

Having experienced hardship during her own childhood, now that Katona has found fame she likes to make sure that her own five children never want for anything over Christmas.

She explained: “That’s why I like to go above and beyond for the kids – because I like to give them the Christmases I never had.”

Katona, who recently tested positive for coronavirus, said that she was looking forward to Christmas at home with her family, including fiance Ryan Mahoney and her three younger children.

Her two eldest daughters from her relationship with Brian McFadden, Lilly-Sue and Molly, planned to be in Ireland with their grandparents.

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She also said that when she marries Mahoney, who will become her fourth husband, they want to have the ceremony in Las Vegas.

Katona said that she was hoping to keep the celebration small with just her children as guests, explaining that they wanted “a marriage not a wedding”.

They are hoping to get married next summer if travel plans can go ahead, and she said she was looking forward to not having to arrange a big day.

Watch: Kerry Katona wants a 'happy ever after'