Kerry Katona rushed to hospital after daughter noticed ‘her face wasn’t right’

Kerry Katona has revealed that she rushed to hospital fearing she was having a stroke, after watching her daughter in a play.

The former Atomic Kitten star realised she couldn’t smile properly when the performance ended, and had felt unwell during.

After noticing the facial sign associated with a stroke, Kerry took a taxi to St Thomas’ Hospital where she was taken in an ambulance to King’s College Hospital.

Her daughter Molly was performing in London, and Kerry was there alongside her other daughter Heidi, who asked her mum: “What’s wrong with your face?”

Kerry told The Mirror that she then ‘started panicking’: ‘I discreetly left, went to my hotel and asked to see a doctor. I told the staff: “Something’s not right.”‘

The 45-year-old, who was also with her partner Paolo Margaglione at the time, explains how things ramped up when she arrived at St Thomas’ as staff announced they were ‘treating it as a stroke’.

She went on: ‘They were shining lights in my eyes while my face and speech were getting worse.’

Kerry even texted her children – Dylan-Jorge, 12, Max, 18, Heidi, 19, Lilly, 23, and Molly 24 – to tell them she loved them.

While at King’s, Kerry underwent tests and scans before being told what had caused the worrying changes.

Rather than a stroke, Kerry said: ‘The CT scans showed there’s a part of my brain that’s broken and isn’t able to send signals to my face due to stress.’

Kerry continued: ‘I’ve spoken to Anna Williamson from Celebs Go Dating about it since, and apparently it can also happen when you’re feeling content. It’s like delayed stress hitting you suddenly because you feel at peace.

‘Every now and then, I’ll get a shooting pain in my head. And I’m noticing my speech – even though I think I’m saying something properly in my head, it doesn’t sound right out loud.’

The mum-of-five has been looking back through old videos to see if she can identify when her speech started to change, and says she can see it getting worse over time.

She’s been reassured by doctors that it will come back, but Kerry says she wants speech therapy and to get exercises for her face, admitting she feeling ‘a bit panicky with it’.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: Atomic Kitten star reveals she’ll never let Kerry Katona return to band