Kate DeAraugo has faced and overcome immense challenges since winning Australian Idol in 2005, navigating a career filled with soaring highs and devastating lows.

After winning Australian Idol in 2005, the singer seemed to be on top of the world – but it didn’t stay that way for long.

Behind the glittering stage at the Sydney Opera House, the singer had no idea the next decade would plunge her into a world of addiction, danger and near-death experiences.

DeAraugo tells this week’s I Catch Killers podcast that even at the height of her fame, she felt disconnected from her own life.

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

‘I don’t remember those times a lot. I spent much of my childhood and so much of those teenage years just so uncomfortable in my skin, just riddled with so much anxiety that I almost felt like I lived in a disassociated state.’

Kate DeAraugo (pictured) has faced and overcome immense challenges since winning Australian Idol in 2005, navigating a career filled with both soaring highs and devastating lows

Though she rocketed to fame with her song Maybe Tonight and as part of pop group The Young Divas, DeAraugo says her struggles with body image and self-confidence were already shaping the addictive tendencies that would later define her life.

‘I can tell you I was on Australian Idol and I can tell you I won… I could tell you I’ve done lots of incredible things, but I don’t necessarily remember it,’ she admitted.

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

As fame brought money and opportunities, it also brought cocaine – and for DeAraugo, it was instant obsession.

‘It was not a slow burn for me,’ she says. ‘I’d met this thing and it became my everything. I didn’t know how to go to any kind of social thing without drugs on me.

‘Without cocaine… It wasn’t ever one or two lines, it was one or two bags and it was as much as I could get, until I couldn’t find any more, always.’

Her dependence spiralled further when a radio gig on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast introduced her to methamphetamine.

‘I’m in a town I don’t know… in the middle of the night, I jump in a car with a person I don’t know,’ she added.

After winning Australian Idol in 2005 (pictured), the singer seemed to be on top of the world – but it didn’t stay that way for long

Behind the glittering stage at the Sydney Opera House, the singer had no idea the next decade would plunge her into a world of addiction, danger, and near-death experiences

‘It was madness. I could tell that he was on something. And I just said, “I don’t know what you have, but you need to give me some.” And that was it.’

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”.’

The darkness escalated and DeAraugo lived in shooting galleries and found herself in dangerous situations with dangerous people – including a violent partner who once stabbed her with a machete.

‘He stabbed me in my left hip one day,’ she says. ‘I colluded with him to fabricate a story about falling on a piece of tin. They asked me if I needed help, and I said, “No, what? You’re being ridiculous,” and got out the next day and carried on.’

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

‘I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror… I was bone thin, my face was messed up, and I was alone,’ she recalls. ‘I looked at myself and thought, “Who are you?”

‘Call it a moment of sanity or divine intervention, but I knew if things didn’t change, I was going to die.’

She checked into rehab, enduring six harrowing weeks of detox that forced her to confront years of shame, guilt, and resentment.

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

She is a mother of two, in a committed relationship with Shannon Riseley, works in the construction industry, and hosts a podcast , Why Do I Feel This Way, sharing her experiences to inspire others.