Kerry Katona has doubled down on her recent comments about how she feels she gets a tougher time in the press over her personal dramas because she’s a woman.
In the past, Kerry has spoken candidly about her struggles with substance abuse and mental health, as well as her much-documented troublesome relationships.
However, she notes that while she’s had to “work her arse off to save her career”, men in similar positions haven’t been treated as harshly by the media.
“With Ant [McPartlin, who was found guilty of drink-driving last year], eight months later he’s back winning awards as if nothing has happened,” she told The Mirror. “I think that says a lot about society.”
Insisting she was proud of Ant and the way he’s “turned his life around”, Kerry continued: “He’s done an amazing job, but it was like when I was on This Morning 10 years ago slurring my words due to bipolar medication, I’m still today crawling my way back up that ladder again. People don’t let me forget that.
“When men have a breakdown or they do something bad they’re forgiven like that but when a woman has a breakdown or they turn to drugs, especially if you’re a mother you’re not as easily forgiven.
“Being a mum, especially being a single mum, who has bipolar and mental health issues, who was a drug addict, I get this criticism and judgement. But look at Ant and people like Russell Brand and Robbie Williams, even the Rolling Stones, it’s all cool for them to be ex-drug addicts or have kids with different women.”
Kerry added: “The whole This Morning incident, the drugs, the men, that’s not my legacy, that’s not who I am.
“I’ve accepted that part of my life, I’ll hold my hands up. You have to accept responsibility because you can’t move on otherwise. But I’m more than that and I will prove it to everyone.”
After Ant McPartlin’s return to Britain’s Got Talent earlier this year, Kerry wrote in her New! magazine column: “Ant McPartlin went to rehab for drink and substance abuse problems and he was forgiven in less than a year, but it’s taken me a decade!
“People are quick to slag off women – especially mothers – if they go off the rails, yet if it’s a man in showbiz, he’s right back in the saddle. Fair play to Ant, but it’s so unfair.”
Kerry revealed last year that she’d been drug-free for nine years, and is currently set to make a return to TV in the new series of E4′s Celebs Go Dating.