Product Description

By the age of 11 Kerry Katona had lived in countless different homes and attended 8 different schools. By the age of 13 she could beat grown men at pool and knew how to look after her mother during a breakdown. By the age of 15 she had lived in women's refuges, the heart of London's East End gangster-land and several different foster homes. By the age of 18 she was a pop star..."Too Much, Too Young" is the moving, gripping - yet often very funny - account of one child's unique upbringing, and a woman's journey through pop stardom, motherhood and marriage heartbreak. From the backstreets of Warrington to the smoky pubs of the East End, from the shelters where victims of domestic violence hide, to the exclusive hotels where international pop stars party, this is an extraordinary read. Better than fiction, more dramatic than the tabloids, more emotional than the soaps and funnier than a reality TV show...welcome to Kerry's life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25687 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Publisher
The full story of Kerry Katona, from abused childhood to tabloid fame

About the Author
Kerry was born in Warrington in 1980. She came into the limelight when she joined the hugely successful band Atomic Kitten. She left in 2001 when her first daughter was born. As well as winning I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! she has been a regular presenter on Loose Women, starred in the successful Irish TV series Show Band and has been the subject of a prime time ITV documentary, My Fair Kerry. She continues to live in Warrington with her expanding family.

Customer Reviews

excellent read
Absolutely brilliant read. Kerry writes an heartwarming autobiography of how she has overcome several obstacles in her chaotic life to reach some kind of peace and happiness with her new partner and is expecting a baby with in February.

Her tales of her time spent with her mother are sad, depressing but Kerry is always fiercely loyal at the same time it is clear she loves her Mum but has recently realised her mum is not to be trusted or relied upon.

Kerry then talks candidly about her life with Bryan out of Westlife and how she fought hard to save the mariage despite the fact that Bryan didn't want to know as he had already fallen in love with Delta Goodrem.

Her love for her children is clear throughout the book, she comes across as a good mother and this shines through in her book although recent tales in the press seem to cast doubt on this.

I hope she finds a more peaceful relaxed way of life in her new home in the New Year.

Too much, too young - a bit too fast!
Before I read this book, I admired Kerry and I wanted to know more about her - she'd experienced some crazy situations before she'd even hit her twenties, usually courtesy of her unstable mother. It was impossible not to find yourself cheering young Kerry on as she battled through desertion, the foster care system, her mother's fragile mental state, and as she finally hit the big time, it restored your faith in karma to know that she'd finally been given the means to reap some rewards from all the years when she had nothing.

I did feel that as soon as we reached the part of the book when Atomic Kitten hit the big time, Kerry had been given a word limit. Whole weeks and months were skipped, and we lurched from one page on "Wow, I'm in a top ten pop band" to the next where she suddenly announced "And then I'd had enough". All the detail disappeared from her story. The next part of the book flew by in a blur - the breakdown of her fairytale marriage, stints in rehab, the "I'm A Celebrity" jungle adventure and the story of her new husband shot by, when these are the things I most wanted to know about.

Kerry comes out of the story as someone who's been fighting for so long that she's in need of a well deserved sit down. She's been wronged by people who should have been there for her, savaged by the press, and still manages to come out with the happy-go-lucky attitude we know her for. The brief "And finally" at the end of the updated version is a bittersweet conclusion, so I'm hopeful that there's another, more detailed book in the pipeline to fill in the gaps on the transition from pop star to Mum Of The Year in the same detail that she gave to her early life.

Far too much, far too young
Having seen this book in various bestseller lists, I was keen to find out more. I must admit that before reading this tome, I don't really know much about Kerry's life, apart from the obvious - she was a founder member of Atomic Kitten and because of her difficult early life and subsequent marriage to Bryan McFadden, this made her an easy target for the media.

Some of the book is quite harrowing in places, especially the pages which describe Kerry's early life and her mother's various violent relationship. I particularly enjoyed Kerry's outgoing bubbly personality shining through the gloom and the paperback edition brings the reader up-to-date with the key events of early 2007 - i.e. her second marriage and the birth of her third daughter. The only thing which causes this book to lose a star is the somewhat sloppy writing style, but this doesn't detract on the whole.