Katie Price – where to begin? Her life has been full of turmoil, from sexual assault and toxic relationships, to body dysmorphia, carjacking, breakdown, rehab, PTSD, ADHD, bankruptcy, bailiffs and eviction.
Now, fresh from her latest boob job – “I’ve gone smaller,” says the former glamour model, looking down at her bust – she is promoting her seventh memoir, This Is Me, revealing what has really gone on behind the scenes in her rollercoaster life and how she has come out the other side.
She talks about enduring a “solid noise of negativity” over the past few years.
“I don’t think any human being deserves that, because if you really look at things, I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m a working mum (she has five children). I’m a provider. I’ve had some terrible relationships.
“It’s about time people see that I’m a human being. I do have feelings, I’m not a product to people, and to show that I did have a serious breakdown, that I have been in the Priory a couple of times but never for alcohol or drugs (it was for PTSD and severe trauma rehabilitation). I’ve gone through some serious break-ups and the media have had a massive impact on me. I want people to know that I am very misunderstood.”
The former glamour model, previously known as Jordan, has been in the business for 30 years, but body dysmorphia has plagued her from an early age, hence the multiple cosmetic surgeries. It’s been reported that this is her 17th boob job.
“Believe it or not,” she shrugs. “I actually don’t know how many boob jobs I’ve had. I’ve gone up and down more times than I’ve had hot dinners. But I’m still coming to terms with body dysmorphia because I am never happy with how I look. Who knows? In a couple of years I might go bigger again.”
Her life has attracted massive media interest since her modelling career began, from her divorces from singer Peter Andre (whom she met on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! In 2004), cage-fighter Alex Reid, and dancer Kieran Hayler, as well as bringing up five children: 22-year-old Harvey, who has a serious disability (his father is ex-footballer Dwight Yorke), Junior and Princess (with Andre), Jett and Bunny (with Hayler).
She’s been diagnosed with severe ADHD, which she says explains a lot of her past behaviour, and suffered PTSD following a terrifying carjack and robbery at gunpoint when filming for ITV in South Africa in 2018. In the book she writes about having a breakdown and trying to take her own life.
“At my lowest point I didn’t want to be here anymore, but I’ve turned things around. And now no one will stop me. I feel like I’ve had a reset button,” she says today.
Having earned millions during her 30-year career, Price, 46, has gone through two bankruptcies and was recently evicted from her country pile known as ‘Mucky Mansion’, a subject on which her publicist doesn’t want to dwell.
“The best thing for me was being in a bankruptcy (situation), and not having my house, because it’s made me move on to a new chapter of my life, own up to what’s happened because now I’m in a situation where I can deal with things,” she says stoically.
“I’m happy in my new place because no drones fly over my house now. You’ve got privacy, I haven’t got the press outside my house anymore.”
The old house, she reflects, brought with it lots of problems.
“That house was just the worst, I just had nothing but dramas, it’s haunted, it was too big for me, there was always something to do on it. I wanted something a lot smaller. I’ve had big houses, I’ve had the land. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. As long as I’ve got my family and friends around me, material things are not important to me.”
Her children, she says, have grown up with the camera. Junior and Princess are following showbusiness careers, she beams.
“I think me and Pete have done a really good job on them, we haven’t pushed them into anything. Whatever they want to do I would support them. We knew they would be their own stars in their own way.”
She’s now dating menswear entrepreneur JJ Slater, a former Married At First Sight contestant.
“I’ve had to learn what healthy relationships are. I met him at the right time. Now, I don’t rush anything and it’s healthy. There’s no rush for marriage, no rush for kids, and my family love him.”
She does wants more children, though. “Whatever happens, I will have another baby, whether it’s a surrogate or me.”
She has found a donor egg clinic and has chosen sperm from a man who is mixed raced from America, so when she is ready she wants to continue her motherhood journey, she writes.
“I love nurturing. I have to have things to look after, to love.”
She admits in the book that she is never invited to events and has learned not to Google her name anymore, but reflects today that she doesn’t feel she’s gone out of fashion.
“I’ve never been in fashion to go out of fashion. Maybe some people are afraid to invite me to events, because I’m always the one – not to be big-headed – they write about at that event.
“I sell papers, the clickbait. One of the reasons I’m still here is that I’m real, I’m not manufactured and people have grown up with me, like a soap story, seeing me go through dramas, seeing I’ve been to hell and back. And I’m just starting a new journey.”
She presents The Katie Price Show podcast with her sister, Sophie, and poses in what she calls Loaded and FHM-type shots on the OnlyFans subscription site.
“I love doing my OnlyFans,” she enthuses. “I love being in front of the camera. I’m an exhibitionist and that’s my safe place. That’s what I know I’m good at.”
Despite her pleas for the media to give her a break, Price readily admits she doesn’t want a life away from the spotlight.
“I love doing my job. I’ve got so many filming projects at the moment,” she says. “When you are in a good space yourself, doors open.”
She likes chaos, she agrees.
“I just love having a chaotic life. Being chaotic doesn’t always have to mean a bad thing. I like busyness, fun and lots of things going on.”
She’s been betrayed many times, she says, and these days she keeps her team close and looks after her mental health with the help of therapy, manifesting and learning life coaching.
“I’ve got a good team of people around me, I’m obviously doing the life coach course. I’ll be helping people. I have therapy myself.
“You learn different techniques and do different courses – self-love, validation, assertiveness. You have to unravel yourself and deal with things. It’s not easy, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
“I’m in a place where absolutely no one – no man, no person, no anyone – will ever dictate and tell me what to do. I am, for the first time in my life, in control. I have been there, done it, been betrayed, ripped off, had it, lost it, had it, lost it. I’m here and I’m a true survivor.”
This Is Me: The High Life. The Dark Days. The FULL Story by Katie Price is published by John Blake. Available now.
