The Sunday Mirror has paid ‘substantial’damages to former pop singer Kerry Katona after publishing an allegation that she worked as a prostitute before she became famous.
In a statement made to the High Court this morning, Katona’s lawyer David Price described her as the spokesperson for Iceland frozen food stores, the winner of the third series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and a regular columnist with OK! Magazine.
Katona sued over a 22 June story headlined: ‘Betrayed by Mum – Kerr’s Mother Dishes the Dirt in Explosive New Book”.
The story said that the book would contain the allegation that Katona worked as a prostitute before she became famous.
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Price said today: ‘The truth is that Sue Katona has never alleged that the claimant worked as a prostitute in a book or at any other time and such an allegation would be entirely untrue. Moreover, Sue Katona has not to date written an autobiography nor does she have a publishing agreement to publish such a book.
‘The defendant accepts that the claimant has never worked as a prostitute and that this allegation was completely false.”
He said that Katona was ‘deeply hurt and embarrassed by the article”.
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‘She was particularly distressed that such an allegation was said to have been made by her mother, thereby giving it added credibility.”
The apology appeared on page two of yesterday’s Sunday Mirror.
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