Cash-strapped Kerry Katona was showing the strain yesterday as she was given a final deadline to pay a £157,000 debt to the taxman or be made bankrupt

The former Atomic Kitten singer stepped out of her front door looking anxious as she walked to her black Porsche with husband Mark Croft outside her home in Wilmslow, Cheshire - just hours after the court ruling.

The troubled star was represented at the hearing by lawyer Luke Harris who persuaded the court to give her until August 7 to pay off the remainder of a £417,000 tax bill.

Money troubles: Kerry Katona, pictured outside her home yesterday in a new bespectacled look,  has six weeks to pay a tax bill or be made bankrupt

Mr Harris said Miss Katona, who was not in court, could not meet the full amount because of 'changed circumstances'.

He said she was expecting payments of £472,000 before the end of August - £291,000 for work already done.

Mr Harris said: 'She had not been able to earn the money (at the time of an earlier court hearing) but on this occasion she has earned it.'

He added: 'She is also strenuously seeking to remortgage her properties. But if the money comes in there is no need. I would ask for one final indulgence by the court.'

Henderson Collymore, representing HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), said it did not want a further adjournment and his instructions were to seek a bankruptcy order.

Generous: Kerry has splashed out on several cars for her husband Mark Croft - pictured with a Ferrari which was reportedly a gift from his wife

Mr Harris had asked for the hearing to be in private because the media attention was 'detrimental to her health' and involved private matters.

But the registrar said Miss Katona had provided no medical evidence to back up her application and he allowed the hearing to go ahead in pubic.

The I'm a Celebrity winner, who has been treated at The Priory for depression, was originally given 10 weeks to pay her tax bill.

It has been reported that as well as being threatened with bankruptcy by HMRC over the unpaid tax from 2004 to 2006, she owes £73,000 tax from 2007.

Huge bill: Katona may be forced to remortgage her Cheshire home to pay the debt

Miss Katona is said to earn £750,000 a year as the face of supermarket chain Iceland and £400,000 a year as a columnist.

The mum of three girls, Molly, six, Lilly Sue, five and Heidi 16 months, was married to Westlife star Brian McFadden in 2002 but they split two years later and divorced.

Then in February last year she married taxi driver Mark Croft at Gretna Green, and in the past two years is reported to have given Mark a Ferrari, two BMW's, two Range Rovers, a Lamborghini, four Porsches, two Aston Martins , an Audi and two superbikes worth an estimated £1.5m.

She has struggled with depression following the death of stepdad Arnie Ferrier and rumours that Mark has been unfaithful.