Kerry Katona and Katie Price laugh as they compare their matching, flamboyant neon dresses and fur coats, as they prepare for their new roles together in pantomime as Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters.
“We’re driving each other crazy… and ourselves,” they say in unison, before bursting out laughing again.
The old friends and tabloid regulars, who first worked together on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here in 2004, are teaming up for the first time in pantomime, at Northwich’s Memorial Court this Christmas. And news of their star performance has already sent ripples through Cheshire.
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Theater company AB Productions has announced record ticket sales since news of the pairing broke on Thursday night, with audiences clearly enjoying the idea of the two TV favorites sharing the stage together. And having spent an hour with the two jovial stars this week, I can safely say that audiences are in for quite a show.
Within minutes of meeting, we’ve already talked about hot flashes, bankruptcy, and OnlyFans. And Kerry even got her little feet out to show us how she’s made millions on the adult site.
Former Atomic Kitten star Kerry says: “I love theatre, I love being on stage, I love acting, I kid you not, we’re in our 40s and we get paid to dress up, how lucky are we?” Katie adds: “It’s all about comfort, it’s not about being on stage and flashing boobs and this and that..” Before Kerry interrupts with another giggle: “We’ve got a website for that love, you can sign up if you want.”
The two stars will be performing in the series of family shows over Christmas from December 8 to 31, and will be Cinderella’s WICKED sisters instead of the traditional ugly. “We don’t like the word ugly, no one would believe it,” laughs Kerry.
And for the first time in the production this year there will also be two ADULT evenings, where children are absolutely not allowed. There will also be plenty of unabashed pantomimes.
Katie, 46, says: “Fingers in your ears if you don’t like it being gross,” while Kerry, 44, adds: “We don’t have a filter. There will be dirty jokes on those adult shows, but that’s just who we are,” Katie continues: “It’s normal, everyone does it, we just say what people are thinking.”
Kerry reflects on the joy of pantomime in general, saying: “Covid has hit everyone really hard and everyone comes together for Christmas, people just need to laugh at yourselves, that’s the problem with the world, everyone takes themselves so f***ing seriously. Laugh at yourself. It’s not about how many times you fall, it’s about getting back up.”
If anyone knows that lesson, it’s Kerry and Katie, who have had their fair share of highs and lows in their showbiz lives. Katie is currently dealing with her second bankruptcy – something Kerry herself has experienced.
“Twice! We’ve both done it twice,” Kerry says of bankruptcy. “She keeps copying me! I got my tattoo first, then she got a tattoo; I’m going bankrupt, she’s going bankrupt, right? I thought, ‘Kate, if you want to be me, that’s okay, I get it.'”
Katie responds, “Hey, if you want to be me, I have the numbers from the surgeon I keep telling you.”
Ah yes, and the surgery. They’re both pretty open about their procedures too, with Kerry saying, “We’re like an etching sketch here,” pointing to their billowing dresses.
Katie is recovering from her recent facelift, which Kerry admires next to her. Katie says: “I had my face pulled about four weeks ago.” Kerry adds: “I had my eyes and nose done because of this n*b.”
Katie quickly interrupts and asks, “But does it make you feel better?” To which Kerry replies, “Well, I do. But now I need a facelift, don’t I?”
Katie says she gets irritated when she reads articles in newspapers and magazines where cosmetic doctors go into detail about what they think she’s had done to her face and body. She says: “I read in magazines doctors who’ve never seen me before and they say ‘oh this is going to happen’ and I think f*** you, you don’t even know what I’ve had done. But I bet if I went to them and said ‘can you do this’ they’d say ‘yeah, yeah’.
“It’s my body, I do what I want. I’m 46, I’m not 20 anymore.” She adds: “I’ve got more implants in the f***ing vault at home than I’ve ever had in my body.”
Kerry reflects on our conversation so far for a moment and then suddenly says, “You know, when we say this kind of stuff in person, it’s funny, but when people read it, they just don’t get it. They think we’re crazy.”
But when you see them in real life, it’s clear that these two women have a sense of humor. They touch each other and we all agree that they both should have their own TV show.
Warrington-born Kerry now lives in Prestbury – “very posh,” I say. To which Kerry jokes: “Yeah, I moved here and everyone’s moved out.”
Katie, who lives in the south but will be renting a property in Cheshire for the pantomime, will be joining Katie and her family again for Christmas dinner this year during their break from the pantomime.
It sounds like they’ve reverted to the behaviour of an old married couple when they’re together. Katie says: “We just sit in bed together and watch TV. We love crime shows.” Kerry knows she has to put the heating on because Katie says she’s “always cold”.
Although we compare notes about perimenopause, she admits she experiences hot flashes at night and “I wake up and my bed is soaking wet,” she says.
They’ve had a row in the past, and I bring that up. Kerry explains: “She called me a junkie and I called her a Pete Burns lookalike.” Luckily, Katie couldn’t remember that.
Both are mothers of five, and Kerry laughs: “We were just saying, if we went on holiday with both kids, that would be 10 kids. Imagine sitting in the airport with all our kids following us, imagine that!”
Kerry laughs: “She’d be in her third bankruptcy again and take ten f***ing kids away! You know, we’re a bit like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, we’ve got a nationality of kids, we’re an orphanage honestly, we’ve got all different races, sizes, we love it.”
As for OnlyFans, that’s another area where Kerry can claim Katie is “copying” her.
Katie says: “Kerry said I should do it! I only started a year ago. During Covid she said to me Kate do it, do it, she showed me how much she was making and I was like are you f***ing serious that you can make all this on that money?”
She looks around the room, me, MEN photographer Sean, and the pantomime crew. They’re all sitting here like deer in headlights, and says enthusiastically, “Everyone in this room can do OnlyFans. You don’t have to be a typo, you’d be so surprised.”
Kerry adds: “The money I make from my feet, oh, it’s not just my nipples. I have the cutest little feet in the world, I’m not going to lie.” She then takes them out of her boots so we can see them.
Wiggles her feet, which have earned her thousands of pounds on the site, and says: “Well, these are Lamborghini feet – one for each Lambo!”
Katie, who says her feet are also really cute, adds a strange request she gets on the site. She says, “They also love my feet in dirty boots for some reason.”
As for the pantomime, we can expect a lot of references to Kerry and Katie’s lives in the script. The script was written by the show’s producer Anton Benson, along with Ryan Greaves and Steve Moorewood, who play Buttons and Dame Hardup in the show.
Katie says: “I had a carriage at one of my weddings, so it’s nice to see one on stage.” We can also expect to see two duets from Kerry and Katie on the show, which will reference their shared background in music.
Although former Atomic Kitten star Kerry no longer performs with the band, Katie’s music career seems to be back on track. She performed at Manchester Pride in August and confirmed to the MEN that she will be embarking on a new music tour in 2025.
Katie said: “I loved Manchester Pride. I’m busy performing all next year. I never thought that would happen and it’s a dream come true. So if you put your mind to it, it will happen. I’ll be doing hour-long sets, I never thought I’d be able to do that.”
Cinderella will take place from 8th – 31st December 2024. Tickets can be booked via www.brioentertainment.com or in person at Northwich Memorial Court.