{"id":35991,"date":"2025-09-22T03:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T03:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35991\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T03:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T03:51:07","slug":"australian-idol-winner-kate-dearaugo-opens-up-on-drugs-violence-and-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/35991\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo opens up on drugs, violence and survival"},"content":{"rendered":"

DeAraugo, who says battles with body image and self-confidence drove an addictive, unhealthy relationship with both food<\/a> and romance throughout her early life, believes she had all the components of \u201can addict\u201d long before she ever touched drugs.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Australian Idol victor Kate DeAraugo. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that I was on Australian Idol<\/a> and I can tell you that I won and I could tell you I\u2019ve done lots of incredible things, but I don\u2019t necessarily remember it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt saddens me to say that, but they\u2019re just not memories that I have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, after releasing platinum single Maybe Tonight and joining pop group The Young Divas, it looked for a while as though DeAraugo\u2019s star was going to rise above the self-doubt she\u2019d been plagued with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t very good at being famous,\u201d she admits, explaining that with more money and fame came access to cocaine for the first time in her life \u2013 something she describes as \u201can instant obsession\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not a slow burn for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d met this thing and it became my everything and I didn\u2019t know how to go to any kind of social thing without drugs on me. without cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t ever one or two lines, it was one or two bags and it was as much as I could get, until I couldn\u2019t find any more, always.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her music career began<\/a> to suffer and she became more and more dependent on drugs and alcohol, DeAraugo\u2019s family tried to intervene. In an effort to change her situation, the musician took a radio gig on Queensland\u2019s Sunshine Coast, believing a change of scenery might do her good.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it was here she became hooked on methamphetamine<\/a> \u2013 commonly referred to as \u201cice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a town I don\u2019t know, and in the middle of the night, I jump in a car with a person I don\u2019t know,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was madness. I could tell that he was on something. And I just said, \u2018I don\u2019t know what you have, but you need to give me some\u2019. And that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deep in the grips of an ice addiction, DeAraugo\u2019s problem quickly went public when she was arrested and charged for driving under the influence of drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe headlines came out, and I lost any sliver of respect I still had in the industry,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For most people, it would be rock bottom. For DeAraugo, it was a permission slip.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo normal people, that would have been enough [to set them straight],\u201d she says, \u201cbut to me that was the ticket that my addiction needed to go, \u2018right, you all think I\u2019m a junkie anyway so I\u2019m just gonna take off here, and I\u2019m gonna show you what it\u2019s really like\u2019. And I guess it just gave me the permission to use the way that I\u2019d been wanting to use for years, which was that I didn\u2019t need to hide it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

From here, life got a lot darker, quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from that life [of fame], to living in shooting galleries or wherever I could find a bed,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy consequential thinking was gone, and I found myself in a lot of dangerous places with a lot of dangerous people doing a lot of dangerous things really, really quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what ice does, quicker than anything else, because it\u2019s all good and well, when you\u2019ve got the money and you can afford it,\u201d DeAraugo continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no drugs I haven\u2019t tried, I\u2019ve done them all. But I\u2019ve never felt the desperation and drive to need to continue to use a drug like methamphetamine. Never. It just possesses you like nothing I could explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI very quickly would just do whatever I needed to do to get what I needed to get. And there were no boundaries to that. So use your imagination, I guess, to work out what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more dangerous than the drug use were the people DeAraugo had in her life. In particular, she details a violent relationship with a fellow user, which escalated to her being stabbed with a machete.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo reveals her seven-year ice addiction and recovery. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been addicted to all kinds of things, and love is no different. And I was a crazy love addict. And you know, I would fall in love instantly with the most toxic of humans. And, you know, I\u2019ve done that a lot over the years, and he was no different, and I met him in a really dark moment, I had no money and no drugs, and he walked in and essentially we just became joined at the hip then and there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stabbed me in my left hip one day, with a machete,\u201d she says, adding that because of the delusional state she was in, she colluded with him to fabricate a story about how the injury had occurred on the way to the hospital, telling staff she\u2019d fallen on a piece of tin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they sent him away to go take a picture of the piece of tin, and he went and threw away the machete, and that was the end of that,\u201d she continues. \u201cThey asked me if I needed help, and I said, \u2018no, what? You\u2019re being ridiculous\u2019 and got out the next day and carried on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the horror of some of her experiences, it was a quiet moment alone that finally convinced DeAraugo she needed help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and … I was bone thin, my face was messed up, and I was alone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at myself and thought, \u2018who are you?\u2019 Call it a moment of sanity or divine intervention, but I knew if things didn\u2019t change, I was going to die.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the first time I called and said, \u2018Mum, I need you to come and get me. I\u2019m going to die and I need help\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite having tried rehab at various times in the past, there was something different about this last time, she says.<\/p>\n

The ex-TV star checked into a facility, where she describes the six weeks of detox as a painful, terrifying experience, as she was forced to face all the shame, guilt and resentment she had been avoiding for years. This was the turning point where she began to take responsibility for her life and started on the path to recovery \u2013 which she maintains to this day.<\/p>\n

Now in a committed relationship with her long-term partner, Shannon Riseley, DeAraugo is a mother of two, works in the construction industry and hosts a podcast titled Why Do I Feel This Way, a platform she uses to share her own struggles and inspire others.<\/p>\n

Her overarching message to anyone struggling with addiction is that there is hope for a different kind of life, no matter how hopeless things might feel right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met people in my recovery that have been way further down the rabbit hole, than I was,\u201d she says, \u201cand they live beautiful, full, rich lives, free from all of that chaos. And the message in it, for me, is that it can happen to anyone \u2013 anyone can find themselves where I did. This doesn\u2019t discriminate.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut,\u201d she adds, \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter how far down you go, as long as you\u2019ve still got two feet on the ground. I promise you can do it. It\u2019s pretty simple, but it\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s doable, and a life beyond your wildest dreams is waiting for you, if you just take the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DeAraugo, who says battles with body image and self-confidence drove an addictive, unhealthy relationship with both food and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[30884,95,1135,33402,1757,156,9517,26022,2517,13840,111,139,69,90,2680,33403,31906,6639,810,13118,6436,10508,18457],"class_list":["post-35991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-achievement","tag-and","tag-australian","tag-dearaugo","tag-drugs","tag-entertainment","tag-fans","tag-idol","tag-kate","tag-like","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-opens","tag-pinnacle","tag-seemed","tag-survival","tag-up","tag-violence","tag-well","tag-winner","tag-winning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}