Today is April 1st, which means that people and businesses around the world have been having fun with pranks and tomfoolery all day. However, some pranks are just not funny, and Kerry Katona has felt the brunt of that fact today.
41-year-old Kerry decided to mark the occasion today by sharing a fake pregnancy announcement post, which many people have found to be insensitive to those with fertility struggles.
The mum-of-five shared a snapshot of a baby ultrasound on her Instagram page, teasing her followers and her fiancé Ryan Maloney to believe she might be expecting. Editing the post later on, Kerry wrote, “Love you @ryanmahoney_7 Knew you lot wouldn't bloody believe me!!!” followed by a series of cry-laughing emojis.
The singer then later deleted the post altogether after sparking some negative feedback.
Infertility affects so many women around the world, and 1 in 4 women will have suffered a miscarriage. Therefore, it’s pretty devastating to see a woman who already has five lovely children, try to fool people into believing that she’s been blessed with yet another baby, only for a laugh.
Pregnancy pranks have been largely frowned upon in recent years, due to how much they tend to upset people with fertility struggles, rightly so.
One disappointed Twitter user commented on Kerry’s prank, writing, “@KerryKatona7 what made you think this was going to be anything other than totally insensitive? I’m in a place of acceptance (mostly) with my infertility, so things like this aren’t as triggering as they used to be. But for lots of women ‘pranks’ like this hurt #AprilFools #prank.”
Meanwhile, another Twitter user wrote, “Totally unacceptable from @KerryKatona7 as an infertile woman, who has never managed to have children I find this disgusting that someone in the public eye would use their platform to promote this joke THEN DELETE IT.”
“I’m sorry but this isn’t funny at all and just because it’s been removed don’t make it ok. So insensitive!!!! Good one @KerryKatona7,” a third added.
According to a representative speaking on behalf of Kerry, “It was an April Fools joke for her fiancé Ryan but she posted it to her public account and not her private one with very close friends by accident.”
“Kerry herself cannot have any more children due to medical issues and has openly spoken about this in the past. She sincerely apologises to anyone who is offended and would never post anything to purposely upset anyone,” the rep added when speaking to The Sun.
