How Australian Idol winner Kate DeAraugo survived ice and a machete attack to successfully rebuild her life: ‘If things didn’t change, I was going to die’

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Since winning Australian Idol in 2005, Kate DeAraugo has experienced both incredible success and significant hardship, proving her resilience through it all.

The singer skyrocketed to fame after winning Australian Idol in 2005, but unfortunately, that success didn’t last.

Just moments after performing on the dazzling stage of the Sydney Opera House, the singer unknowingly faced a future filled with addiction, peril, and brushes with death over the next ten years.

In this week’s episode of I Catch Killers, DeAraugo reveals that despite being very famous, she often felt detached from her own life.

‘I was 16 the first time I auditioned,’ she began. 

I don’t have many clear memories from that period of my life. Growing up and through my teens, I was deeply uncomfortable and anxious, to the point where I often felt detached from everything around me.

Despite achieving early success with her song ‘Maybe Tonight’ and as a member of the pop group The Young Divas, DeAraugo explains that her issues with body image and self-esteem were developing even then, contributing to the unhealthy patterns that would later become a major part of her life.

She shared that she was a winner on Australian Idol, but confessed she doesn’t always remember her past accomplishments, saying, ‘I’ve done lots of incredible things, but I don’t necessarily remember it.’

‘It saddens me to say that, but they’re just not memories I have.’

With fame came wealth and new possibilities, but also cocaine, which quickly became an all-consuming addiction for DeAraugo.

Looking back, my experience wasn’t a gradual slide into addiction – it was incredibly fast. I met this substance, and almost instantly, it took over my life. It got to the point where I genuinely didn’t feel capable of navigating any social situation without it. It was a really scary time, and I wish I’d recognized the danger sooner.

I didn’t just use a little cocaine – it was always a large amount, as much as I could obtain, and I kept using until I couldn’t get any more.

Her reliance on drugs worsened after she started working at a radio station on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where she was first exposed to methamphetamine.

She explained she found herself in an unfamiliar town, and in the middle of the night, she got into a car with someone she’d never met before.

It was completely crazy. I realized he was using drugs, and I jokingly asked him to share. That was all that happened.

Her addiction soon became public when she was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs.

‘To normal people, that would have been enough,’ she says. ‘But to me that was the ticket that my addiction needed to go, “Right, you all think I’m a junkie anyway so I’m just gonna take off here, I’m gonna show you what it’s really like”.’

As things got darker, DeAraugo ended up living in places where drugs were used and found herself in risky situations with dangerous individuals, including an abusive partner who once attacked her with a machete.

She recounts a day when he stabbed her in the hip. Afterwards, they worked together to create a false story, claiming she’d fallen on some scrap metal. When people offered help, she brushed it off, acting as if nothing was wrong, and simply left the next day, continuing with her life.

It wasn’t until a quiet, solitary moment that DeAraugo knew she had to fight for her life.

She remembers looking in the mirror and barely recognizing herself. She was extremely thin, her face looked terrible, and she felt utterly alone. Staring back at her reflection, she wondered, “Who *is* that person?”

Whether it was a stroke of good luck or a turning point, I realized I needed to make a change, or I wouldn’t survive.

She entered a rehabilitation program and spent six difficult weeks detoxing, a process that made her face long-held feelings of shame, guilt, and anger.

That experience became her turning point and today, she is thriving in her life. 

A mother of two and a dedicated partner to Shannon Riseley, she works in construction and also hosts the podcast, ‘Why Do I Feel This Way,’ where she shares her personal journey to motivate and inspire listeners.

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2025-09-21 10:49