Kerry Katona has never been shy about reinvention. At 45, the former Atomic Kitten singer says her most lucrative chapter yet came not from pop music or television, but from OnlyFans.
Katona says she has made “millions” on the subscription platform since joining during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when live appearances and media work disappeared almost overnight. The decision, she insists, was practical rather than provocative.
“Everything was cancelled during COVID. I was panicking,” Katona said in a recent interview. A single mother with five children, she describes the moment as financial triage rather than career pivot.
When OnlyFans was suggested, she says it made immediate sense. “I started off as a glamour girl, a Page 3 model. I wasn’t going to be a f****** rocket scientist. I had no chance of that with my childhood,” she said.
For Katona, the platform represented familiar ground. Before pop stardom, she had built a living as a glamour model, and she frames her move to OnlyFans as a return to something she already understood — her image, her audience, and her ability to monetise both on her own terms.
The choice, she says, came down to control. Use her body and her profile to earn quickly, or grind through work that paid less and offered fewer guarantees. She chose the former.
Importantly, Katona says the decision was not made in secret. She maintains she spoke openly with all five of her children before launching her account and that the conversations were direct.
“I didn’t hide it. We talked about it as a family,” she said.
Katona shares daughters Molly, 23, and Lilly Sue, 22, with her first husband Brian McFadden; Heidi, 17, and Max, 16, with second husband Mark Croft; and her youngest daughter DJ, 10, with her late husband George Kay.
Financially, the impact was immediate. Katona claims she earned around £160,000 in her first month on OnlyFans. Since then, she says her income has reached seven figures, though she avoids giving an exact number.
“It’s not about bragging,” she said. “The money goes straight on the kids.”
Despite her success, Katona is clear that she does not want her daughters to follow her into the same line of work. She sees her role as taking the criticism so they don’t have to.
“I’ll do the graft. I’ll take the judgement,” she has said previously. “That’s my job as a mum.”
The former singer has long been open about a chaotic childhood, unstable relationships and past financial mistakes. She admits there was a time when she felt the world owed her something. That thinking, she says, has changed.
“No one is going to save you,” Katona said. “The only person who can change your life is you.”
And age, it seems, is no deterrent. Asked whether she would still use OnlyFans later in life, Katona was characteristically blunt.
“Abso-f******-lutely,” she said. “If my t*** aren’t dragging on that floor and I am still making the money I am making, why would I not?”
In an industry that thrives on youth, Katona’s message is unapologetically pragmatic: work with what you have, own it, and don’t wait for permission.
Last modified: January 15, 2026
