Mum-of-five Kerry Katona said her heart went out to Rivals star Emily Atack after she was trolled on social media for her weight loss – when she was suffering from sepsis following the birth of her first child.
The actress, 36, said she had to put up with people remarking on her appearance during her pregnancy saying she was “enormous” but then had to deny using fat jabs having lost weight.
Emily told Grazia: “I was very ill after the birth. I had sepsis, I couldn’t leave the house for weeks. It was awful.” She said: “My body holds all my trauma as well as my happiness and joy. I went through a very difficult pregnancy.”
5View 5 ImagesEmily Atack opened up about having sepsis in a revealing interview(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
5View 5 ImagesKerry Katona offered some advice to the actress(Image: Getty Images)
Writing in her column for New, Kerry said: “I really felt for Emily Atack when I read she’d suffered from sepsis after her son’s birth and that was the reason she’d lost a lot of weight.
“Apparently, she got trolled by people calling her ‘too skinny’. You can’t win, can you? First of all, I know what it’s like to go through a tricky birth, my DJ’s labour was awful. And the last thing I’d want to do after is have to defend myself against trolls.”
Offering some words of advice, Kerry, 45, said: “Never feel you have to explain yourself to anyone, Emily. People will always judge, you won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, so just do you.”
View 5 ImagesEmily with screen husband Rufus Jones at the launch of Rivals series 2(Image: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Emily added: “I’m just asking for people for a little bit of patience and understanding at such a complex thing. Women’s bodies change all the time. I am so done with defending it.”
The star, who welcomed her first son Barney with her fiancé Alistair Garner in 2024, said she is now doing better when it comes to her health and is looking forward to her wedding in September.
Earlier this week she opened up for the first time about becoming pregnant as a teenager, while in an “awful, abusive” relationship.
Appearing on the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast she spoke about her childhood years and leaving school at the age of 16, which led to her falling into the “wrong crowds” when her parents Kate Robbins and Keith Atack split.
View 5 ImagesEmily and fiancé Alistair Garner welcomed son Barney in 2024(Image: instagram)
She said: ““Because I was such a troubled teen, my poor parents, they just didn’t know what to do with me a lot of the time, and I was hanging around in the wrong crowds. I was sexually active with older boys and men, and that was very difficult for my parents.
“I remember when my dad left, at the time, and I’ve never actually told anybody this but I was pregnant, and I was very young. I was in this awful, abusive, horrible relationship, and I fell pregnant.”
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Emily, who recently reprised her role as TV host Sarah Stratton in the adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s raunchy Rivals for a second series, rose to fame appearing as Charlotte Hinchcliffe on The Inbetweeners.