Australian Idol star Kate DeAraugo’s heartbreaking family decision: “I knew I needed help”

With her two beautiful sons, an engagement ring on her finger and her career back on track, Kate DeAraugo had never been happier – until the insecurities and anxiety that almost killed her returned.

But she wasted no time, seeking professional help to keep her demons at bay.

She returned to the Melbourne rehab facility where she had previously spent 18 months getting sober.

“Yes, thanks to all the hard work I put in years ago, I’ve been able to build a wonderful life, but addiction really can rear its head any time,” Kate tells Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview about why she had to seek help.

“If I don’t continue to look after myself, the challenges that I faced through years of addiction and early recovery can resurface, and that’s exactly what happened earlier this year.

“When I first opened up about my struggles, I made a commitment to share all parts of the journey, even the ugly parts that may shock people, which is why I’m sharing this part of my story.”

SAVING HERSELF

Fortunately, this time round, it wasn’t that Kate had fallen off the wagon, but recognition that she was at risk of drinking again.

“I hadn’t used. I hadn’t actually done anything,” she reveals.

“But when I went to do a gig in Melbourne, I thought I just can’t be sure I’m not going to have a drink. It shocked me because I haven’t experienced that in a long time, even when I’ve been with people who are drinking.”

Kate, 40, secretly checked herself into rehab about five months ago, not long after she had returned from a romantic European holiday, bubbling over with happiness after her partner Shannon Riseley, 44, proposed.

“Addiction nearly killed me, and when I became a mum I made a commitment to be the best mum that I can be for my boys. When I realised I was at risk I knew I had to go back to rehab, so I did,” she says.

Kate, who shares four-year-old Hudson and 18-month-old Noah with her fiance Shannon, has reignited her music career in the past two years, and co-hosts a hit podcast based on her own battles with addiction and mental health.

“I’d finally got this amazing life, but I’d stopped looking after my mental health,” explains Kate, who became addicted to drugs and alcohol after winning the third season of Australian Idol in 2005.

At her lowest point, the former Young Divas star was arrested twice in 2017 for possession of crystal meth (or “ice”) and faced 15 years in jail.

Then a hospital stint and 18 months in rehab helped her turn her life around.

Kate bravely went public with her addiction and recovery, documenting it on her own podcast, Why Do I Feel This Way? which she co-hosts with close friend and former radio producer Claudia Coy.

It tells the real story behind the fame, including her battles with crippling insecurity that led her to try extreme liposuction, a weight-loss boot camp in Thailand and almost every diet on the planet.

Kate’s been clean and sober for more than eight years, but earlier this year, she was reminded of the realities of addiction and that relapse is always a possibility, no matter what your life looks like.

“I got home and saw my babies, and that was enough for me to realise I needed help immediately, and I phoned Sober Living Rehab the next day,” she says.

“I needed to do it so I could be the best mum possible to my boys.”

BETTER THAN EVER

Kate now realises that her determination to “soldier on” in the face of declining mental health was a mistake.

“I kept thinking, she’ll be right, it will work itself out, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

With her second rehab now behind her, Kate says she’s better than she’s ever been as she relaunches Why Do I Feel This Way? with her personal journey the focus of the first episode of the upcoming season out this week.

“I want people to know that recovery isn’t linear, and that applies to recovery in any sense, not just drugs and alcohol, but any form or mental health or grief, whatever the struggle is,” she says.

“Why am I sharing this? I think it’s a very important message. Things don’t have to get catastrophic before you ask for help. It’s actually super OK to be not OK, and to put yourself first and look after yourself.

“I’m really blessed because a lot of people start on that train and not everybody gets to pull themselves up before the train wreck. I was able to do it because of the work and the steps that I’ve put in place over the years.

“And it has definitely made me a better mum!”