Kerry Katona has admitted she’s still cut up about her daughter Molly’s decision to move out of their home to study in Ireland.
The 16-year-old left East Sussex last August to start at a new school on the Emerald Isle, living with her paternal grandparents.
Kerry told OK! magazine that she still finds Molly’s absence hard to deal with, even though she regularly visits.
“It’s a lot quieter in the house. Every time I drop her off at the airport I cry, but we speak most days,” she said.
She added that Molly is loving the all-girls high school she’s now attending, where she will remain a student until she’s 18.
“She’s at a really good all girls high school until she’s 18. She loves it. It’s also given her nan more purpose, looking after her. If Molly leaves her, it will break her heart.”
Kerry, who split from her third husband George Kay last year, shared her devastation with her Instagram followers when Molly first moved out.
In a teary video, she sobbed: “My baby girl having cuddles with Mummy tonight. I don’t want her to leave me!”
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As she fought back tears, she repeated: “Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me, Molly!”
Off-screen, the teenager could be heard trying to reassure her mother, but Kerry continued to sob: “She’s abandoning me!”
Meanwhile, Molly’s father, Brian McFadden, told OK! magazine last year that he fully supported his daughter’s decision to study in Ireland, even though he no longer lives there himself.
The former Westlife singer is now settled in Rochdale with his girlfriend Danielle Parkinson.
He said of Molly’s move: “I think it’ll be easier for Molly to concentrate on her exams there. It’s going to make things harder now for us all to be together, but you have to make sacrifices.”
Atomic Kitten star Kerry still has a full house caring for her other daughter with Brian, Lilly-Sue, 14, her three-year-old daughter with George, Dylan-Jorge, and Heidi, 11, and Max, nine – from her second marriage to Max Croft.
Apart from missing her daughter, Kerry has recently said how much happier she’s been feeling this year.
She’s lost two stone thanks to healthy eating and exercise and recently told the Loose Women she’s feeling “really in control in my life right now” after her difficult year.
She said: “This is the best headspace I’ve been in in a long long time. I’m in a relationship with myself and learning to love me.
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“The exercise has really helped me – I do a lot of yoga. I get up at about 5.30am and do a bit yoga.”