Kerry Katona has described her terror after being rushed to hospital over suspected stroke symptoms while watching her daughter Molly in a play. The 45-year-old former Atomic Kitten star began feeling unwell during the performance and later noticed she could not smile properly.
Accompanied by her daughter Heidi and partner Paolo Margaglione, Kerry discreetly left the theatre and went to her hotel. When a doctor was unavailable for four hours, she took a taxi to St Thomas' Hospital, where staff treated her as a stroke patient and blue-lit her to King's College Hospital. She said: 'An hour ago I was watching our Molly in a play and now I’m being treated for a stroke. What the actual f**k?'
Fearing the worst, Kerry texted all five of her children to tell them she loved them. 'I’ve never been so scared in my life,' she admitted. After CT scans, doctors ruled out a stroke and diagnosed a condition caused by stress, where part of her brain cannot send signals to her face. She said: 'There’s a part of my brain that’s broken and isn’t able to send signals to my face due to stress.'
Kerry, who has been feeling run down from balancing family life, is now seeking speech therapy and facial exercises. She also recalled her late husband George Kay, who suffered similar symptoms from Bell's Palsy in 2015 before his death in 2019. Despite her health scare, Kerry flew to Spain for her son Dylan-Jorge's 12th birthday, but plans follow-up checks upon her return.
