Kate DeAraugo is a very different woman to the fresh-faced teenager who almost collapsed in shock when she was named the Australian Idol in front of thousands of screaming fans at Sydney Opera House in 2005.
“I still watch the footage back and the shocked expression on my face was accurate. I just didn’t believe it. I never believed I was even good enough to be standing there at the end and then to win, it came as a huge shock to me,” says Kate, who was a swimming coach from Bendigo when two million people tuned in to watch her be crowned the third Idol winner.
“It was an unbelievable moment,” she recalls.
According to Kate, 39, the following press conference and joyful afterparty left her reeling in a mist of excitement – before she started a completely new life, with the first of 70 press interviews at 4.30am.
“There wasn’t any time to sit back and reflect on what had happened,” she tells Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview to announce the comeback tour that marks her 20-year Idol anniversary.
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HIGHS & LOWS OF FAME
Both Kate’s debut single Maybe Tonight and the debut album that followed, A Place I’ve Never Been, went platinum.
She seemed to be on the path to superstardom, following in the footsteps of the first series winner Guy Sebastian and his runner-up Shannon Noll.
But just as her career started to skyrocket, she turned to cocaine and alcohol to dull the pain of a lifetime of insecurity about her body image, which was only made worse with fame and the spotlight it constantly put her in.
It was the start of what Kate now calls her 12 years of darkness, which saw her try cocaine, the “awful, awful drug” nitrous oxide, and develop a seven-year addiction to methamphetamine.
“I didn’t use drugs until after I won Idol,” Kate, revealing crippling insecurities about her body led her to try every diet, undergo extreme liposuction, secretly attend a Muay Thai martial arts camp in Thailand and get a gastric sleeve.
“I’ve been fat shamed my entire life,” she says.
Of course, Kate was also famously fat shamed on Idol by Kyle Sandilands, who mocked her “tuck shop lady arms” when she wore a sleeveless dress.
“Yes, I’m the tuck shop girl! I was just 19 when Kyle said that. That was just one of many, many episodes of me feeling shameful about my body. Sadly, I’ve been shamed in a public space for my body forever.”
Kate forgave Kyle long ago and still has a lot of time for the shock jock, who she says was the only judge to check in on her, and didn’t hesitate to support her when she staged a mini-comeback during her lost years of darkness.
She also bears no ill will to her Young Divas bandmates (Paulini, Emily Williams, Jessica Mauboy and Ricki-Lee Coulter) despite lingering rumours of tension between the stars, including an alleged feud between Kate and Ricki-Lee.
“I reflected on that recently and I don’t even know what the war was about. I don’t even know if Ricki and I had beef. I still talk to (her Idol runner-up) Emily, and I caught up with Paulini a couple of weeks ago.
“I have nothing but love for all four of those girls, including Jess, because we had something special together. I wasn’t the best version of myself during that time. But we certainly weren’t four girls on the road wanting to stab each other.”
Kate has not touched an illegal drug or tasted alcohol since March 26, 2018, which is the day she checked into rehab for six weeks, before spending another two years “learning how to live again” in a sober living transition house.
GETTING SOBER
“That first year was a bit like being in ICU,” she says.
With seven years of sobriety behind her, Kate’s life has changed dramatically.
She now feels “safe” in a loving relationship with construction site manager Shannon Riseley, 43, and their sons, eight-month-old Noah, and Hudson, who turns three next month.
“I’m a very lucky girl,” she says, revealing that she and Shannon will spend Christmas in Europe after Kate was offered a fee to sing at an Aussie couple’s Swiss wedding.
“I really thought music was done for me. Then I started to do bits and pieces just for fun and realised it brings me a lot of joy. I’m not chasing unicorns anymore. I just do things that bring me joy and make me feel good. I look at it very differently these days.”
NEW BEGINNINGS
Kate kicked off her comeback tour, From Idol ’Till Now, in her hometown of Bendigo on the weekend, and will also be performing at The Wickham in Brisbane on October 24, the Jazzlab in Melbourne on November 21 and at Universal in Sydney on November 28.
“It’s been 20 years since I won Idol, which is crazy to think. It feels like five minutes ago and a million years ago, all at once,” she says, promising songs from Idol, Young Divas as well as music that helped heal her during her darkest hours.
These days she’s completely happy in her own skin.
Medical weight loss medication has stopped the constant “food noise” that almost destroyed her, and she loves who she sees in the mirror, warts and all.
“I roared with laughter last week when I got skinny shamed!” Kate says.
“Somebody trolled me for being too skinny and told me to eat a pie – and that’s never happened before!”
For more information on Kate’s From Idol ’Till Now tour, visit katedearaugo.com.au.
