Kerry Katona has spoken out against ITV’s ‘toxic’ atmosphere, claiming she was ‘left suicidal’ due to a lack of follow-up care following her This Morning appearance.
During an interview with Dan Wootton on GB News, the Atomic Kitten singer broke her silence over the ongoing Phillip Schofield affair.
She said: ‘The culture at ITV, and the toxicity, and the aftercare is so lack of that I was left suicidal.
‘No one reached out to me whatsoever it was so disgusting.’
Fighting back tears, she continued: ‘Caroline Flack had an argument with her boyfriend and they asked her to step down like that.
‘I get really angry and really annoyed, and I don’t understand why Phillip was still sat on that sofa for three years and ITV knew about it and Caroline took her own life.
‘That really gets to me, it needs to be shouted about and voiced, because I don’t get that.
‘Is it because she’s a woman, I’m a woman, I don’t know.’
Flack committed suicide in February 2020, at the age of 40, amid a media frenzy as she awaited a court appearance on allegations of abusing Lewis Burton, her lover at the time.
Kerry, who has appeared on the Loose Women panel, added, about Schofield: ‘The audacity, being condescending, belittling to people with real issues on the so, who are they to give him the right to give an opinion and tell them what’s right or wrong.
‘I’m shaking.’
‘People don’t understand what that interview did to me emotionally.’
She then admitted that watching the video made her feel’so embarrassed,’ and she fell into tears.
‘I’ve got no reason to lie, I’m 43 this year, and now even today I have to justify myself to that interview.’
Talking about This Morning, she blasted the show as ‘phoney, fake and false’.
She said: ‘Because of This Morning and the way they’re all liars, us as civilians and citizens and society, we look at them too and think this is how we’re supposed to be.’
‘It’s all b******t,’ she continued.
Kerry previously stated that a previous interview on This Morning “destroyed her career.”
Back in 2018, Kerry addressed the interview, saying: ‘ I think for so long the mental health stigma, it’s still a taboo really. That was down to my pure medication.
‘I’ll admit I’ve done drugs in the past, I’ve done the drink, I’ve done all that.
‘But that was my bipolar medication and to this day I’m still trying to get TV companies, producers to try and trust in me again because of my mental health illness.’
Her comments on GB News came after a period of upheaval. This Morning continues to rumble, with former guests Eamonn Holmes and Dr Ranj Singh speaking out about the ‘poison’ on the show.
This Morning has been in disarray since Schofield, 61, quit from the programme following accusations that he and Willoughby were ‘barely communicating’ behind the scenes and that their relationship had cooled.
He later resigned from all of his ITV projects after disclosing on Friday that he had a ‘unwise but not criminal’ affair with a young male show runner on This Morning while still married to Stephanie Lowe.
They first met when the anonymous production assistant was 15 years old, when Schofield delivered a presentation at his school, and their relationship began after he turned 18 and began working on This Morning, while Schofield was in his mid-50s.
ITV later stated that an inquiry had been carried out, but that no proof had been discovered.
On Sunday, the show’s former resident doctor, Singh, resorted to Instagram to allege a ‘toxic atmosphere’ and to claim that he was’managed out’ of addressing his concerns prior to his departure from the show two years ago.
Since then, GB News presenter Holmes has made a number of startling accusations in interviews, including claiming Schofield and his younger partner had ‘playtime Thursdays’ and slamming Willoughby and Schofield as presenters.
Schofield has yet to react on Holmes’ interview, although his lawyers have already assured Metro.co.uk that he will not.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.