Kerry Katona in furious GMB row with RHOJ’s Tessa Hartmann over padded bikini tops for girls as young as 9

KERRY Katona became embroiled in a furious row with Real Housewives of Jersey’s Tessa Hartmann on Good Morning Britain today, with the two women debating padded bikini tops for young girls.

The 40-year-old star was horrified by the “sexualised” swimwear, which is marketed for children as young as nine.

Meanwhile, fashion expert Tessa defended the move – and made personal digs at Kerry as the row got more heated.

Kerry, who is mum to five children including four daughters, kicked off the segment by exclaiming: “The world’s gone mad!”

She added that she was “really gobsmacked” by the move, going on: “It’s so wrong, children need to be children.”

But Tessa argued that the bikini top does “protect the modesty” of young girls – and would stop them from being self-concious.

While host Susanna Reid held the item up to argue that it has a definitive “shape”, Tessa continued to defend the controversial garment.

She ranted: “There are a lot of things out there that sexualise children, like social media sites like Only Fans – but when it comes to the modesty of a young girl…”

Kerry laughed as she interrupted: “Only Fans is an over 18 site, nobody is putting that to a nine-year-old child.”

Insisting that she’d never put her young daughter in a padded bikini around strangers at a swimming pool, she continued: “That is almost like dangling a carrot in front of a paedophile.”

Tessa hit back: “But it’s okay for your teenage daughters to take the photos of you naked to put on a social media site? But you won’t let them wear a bikini that covers your modesty?”

Confused Kerry was furious, correcting: “My children do not take pictures of me naked, you’ve got it completely wrong!

“My children take pictures of me in a bikini or in my underwear, I’m 40 years old. That is an over 18 site, why would a nine-year-old child be Googling topless pictures in the first place?

“What I do for an over 18 site is completely different to giving a nine-year-old child padded breasts.”

Host Richard Madeley then interrupted the clash to “get order” back to the debate as he circled the focus back round to the bikini.

Tessa was ultimately outnumbered on her view, with Richard insisting that he found the padded children’s clothes “weird” – echoing Susanna and Kerry’s view.