Kerry Katona has hit out at ITV (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Kerry Katona has spoken out about the ‘toxic’ culture at ITV, saying she was ‘left suicidal’ after a lack of aftercare from her This Morning interview.
The Atomic Kitten singer broke her silence over the ongoing Phillip Schofield scandal during an interview with Dan Wootton on GB News.
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.
Schofield quit ITV after revealing his affair with a younger employee (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Kerry accused ITV of a ‘toxic’ culture (Picture: S Meddle/ITV/REX)
‘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.’
Love Island presenter Flack took her own life in February 2020 at the age of 40, amid a media storm as she awaited a court appearance on charges of assaulting Lewis Burton, her boyfriend at the time.
Caroline Flack took her own life in 2020 (Picture: Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage)
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 later added looking back at the video makes her feel ‘so ashamed’, as she burst 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.’
Kerry addressed her This Morning interview in 2018 (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
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.
This comes after Kerry shared how a past 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.
Holly Willoughby will continue presenting This Morning without Schofield (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
‘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 come after turbulence around This Morning continues to rumble, with the likes of Eamonn Holmes and former guest Dr Ranj Singh speaking out about the ‘toxicity’ on the show.
This Morning has been thrown into chaos behind the scenes since Schofield, 61, resigned from the show after claims he and Willoughby were ‘barely speaking’ behind the scenes and that their relationship had cooled.
He subsequently resigned from all his ITV projects in their entirety after revealing on Friday that he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young male show runner on This Morning while still with his wife Stephanie Lowe.
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They initially met when the unnamed production assistant was 15 after Schofield gave a talk at his school, with their relationship beginning after he turned 18 and was working in a role on This Morning, while Schofield was in his mid-50s.
ITV later insisted that an investigation had been conducted, but no evidence was found.
On Sunday, the show’s former resident doctor, Singh took to Instagram to make claims of a ‘toxic culture’ and say that he was ‘managed out’ for raising his concerns ahead of his exit from the programme two years ago.
Since then, GB News presenter Holmes has also made several claims in explosive interviews, including saying Schofield and his younger lover had ‘playtime Thursdays’, and blasting Willoughby and Schofield as hosts.
Schofield has yet to speak out on Holmes’ interview, but his lawyers previously told Metro.co.uk that he will not be commenting.
Metro.co.uk has approached Schofield’s lawyers and ITV for comment.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
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‘I’m shaking.’
