Kerry Katona defends feeding her children takeaways for six months

Kerry Katona has defended only feeding her children takeaways after she was accused of "child abuse" for not making a home cooked meal for six months.

The former Atomic Kitten star and mother of five had confessed in an interview that she was "ashamed" at the number of food deliveries she had ordered for her kids.

Katona, 41, wrote in her New magazine column: "I did an interview and admitted I was embarrassed about how many takeaways I'd been feeding the kids.

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"I got a bit of backlash! Someone told me it's child abuse and said I neglect my kids.

"Get a grip, sweetheart. My kids ordering sushi is not child abuse. It's not like they're eating scraps out of the bin. They're privileged to be having takeaways."

The reality TV star is mother to daughters Molly, 20, and Lilly, 18, from her marriage to Brian McFadden, as well as daughter Heidi, 14, and son Max, 13, from her second marriage to Mark Croft. She also has seven-year-old daughter Dylan-Jorge from her relationship with late husband George Kay.

She told The Sun earlier this month: "I was mortified. I was embarrassed, not only as a human, but as a mum.

“I felt ashamed, like my kids were all on takeaways, it feels wrong but they’re alive. I kept them all alive.

"It’s not like they’re eating scraps out of the skip, you know what I mean? They’re having pizzas. Do you know how much takeaway pizza bleeding costs?

"But you get mum shamed if you don’t cook a five-course meal for your children or you don’t bake... I don’t do any of that.”

Katona has taken part in new Channel 4 show Celebrity Trash Monsters – learning about waste and how to reduce her carbon footprint.

She revealed: “They made me go dumpster diving where you basically root around in people’s bins looking for food they’ve wasted by throwing out.

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“I’ve moved to the poshest, richest areas in Cheshire and there’s me going through people’s bins outside of a gated house.

"You’ve seen how rich it is around here, and there’s me thinking, ‘I’ve not even made any friends. I’ve just moved here. And I’ve got a camera crew and paparazzi following me.’”

Watch: Kerry Katona opens up on domestic abuse