Kerry Katona has reportedly lashed out at ex-husband Brian McFadden, insisting: "If he loves his kids so much, why does he live 10,000 miles away?"

McFadden enjoyed a few days with his two children recently after attending the funeral of Stephen Gately, but in the wake of Kerry's drugs trauma had spoken on Irish TV about his desire to gain custody of the kids.

And Kerry's got all upset about his apparently sudden interest.

A close pal told the News of the World: "It's not Brian who puts food on the table for them every day, takes them to school, does their washing, supervises their homework, gives them baths and does all the boring jobs that go with parenthood.

"It's Kerry who does that. It's Kerry who is there for them 52 weeks a year – and that is tough."

Of course, strictly speaking it IS Brian who puts food on the table, since Kerry was sacked from her Iceland ad campaign and current hubby Mark seems literally incapable of working.

And we're guessing it's probably a nanny who does the washing, bathing kinds of stuff, but we're just nit-picking really.

The pal added: "Any dedicated dad would be just round the corner so that he could see his daughters all the time – not half-way round the world. The girls both long for more contact with their dad."

Brian currently lives with Delta Goodrem in Australia but has said that he would return to Ireland should he get custody of the girls.

But the clearly seething pal continued: "It's funny he flies all the way back from Australia to go to the funeral of a pop star – but doesn't fly back that often just to see his children.

"Brian knew he'd end up in the papers by going to the funeral. He wants to do all the glamorous things – but none of the grind that goes with being a parent."

We're not sure we'd call a funeral glamorous, but we get your point, Kerry's pal.

As role models go, we're not sure either Kerry or her ex are the best.

Things have taken a turn for the worse for Kerry recently. We take a look back at the previous highs and lows of Miss Katona's life...