Never one to mince her words, Katie Price has had her fair share of celebrity spats over the years. So it might not come as a huge surprise that the 47-year-old has sparked a new feud with Myleene Klass – furiously hitting out at the Classic FM presenter’s MBE.
In typically feisty form, Katie blasted, ‘I’m not against this for her, but why the f*** has Myleene Klass got an MBE? For playing the classical piano?’ Former Hear’Say singer Myleene, 47, was, in fact, awarded the honour for her services to women’s health, miscarriage awareness and charity.
Katie, who was pictured with Myleene at the NTAs in 2017, went on, ‘This industry is so corrupt. They have the same managers, they’re all clones – they all win MBEs and are fronting TV. But behind the scenes, they’re worse than we are. Turds are what they are!’
Katie Price and Myleene Klass ©Getty Images
Her outburst will hardly shock her fans as, over the years, she’s infamously clashed with celebs including Kelly Brook, Emily Atack, Jodie Marsh and Chris Hughes – as well as bitter public feuds with her exes.
But in a rare moment of self-reflection, mum-of-five Katie showed a different side to Closer, as she admitted that she has ‘very few friends’ following a major breakdown in September 2021 that saw her cull most of her inner circle.
‘It is a sad, lonely world. You question the friendships – why are they actually your friend? There are a lot of trust issues,’ she said.
The former glamour model and reality star – who is dating Married At First Sight’s JJ Slater, 33 – explains, ‘After my breakdown, I got rid of anyone in my life who I had a question mark against. It’s the best thing I ever did. I moved, and I’ve just got a handful of friends, like Kerry Katona.’
Kerry and Katie ©Vivienne Edge
While her friendship with Atomic Kitten star Kerry – who she’s just finished touring the UK with – stems back to being contestants on 2004’s I’m A Celebrity!, Katie was already a huge star before her stint in the jungle.
Shooting to fame in 1996, Katie began her modelling career under the name of Jordan. ‘I come from a normal working-class family, and I had an amazing upbringing. We weren’t rich. I was just into my horses,’ Katie recalls. ‘When I first did Page 3, people would say, “Go on, get the drinks in, you’re minted!” I’d say, “Are you f*ing joking?” I only got £90 for getting my t*ts out. I loved it – but people think you’re rich, and then change towards you.’
As a former
glamour model,
Katie began her
career in 1996 ©(Photo by Stephen Perry/Getty Images)
Her trademark feistiness disappears as she reflects on a childhood that was marred by trauma and appalling sexual abuse. Revealing she was sexually assaulted in a park aged just seven, Katie says another horrific violation happened before she turned 16.
‘I was a model, and the photographer would never let my mum or nan watch the photo shoots at his house,’ she says. ‘One day, he wanted me to wear nothing but a wet shirt and I told him I didn’t want to do that – I was cold, and I wanted my mum.’
In 2018, while filming her My Crazy Life show in South Africa, Katie’s vehicle was carjacked by six armed men – and she was raped at gunpoint in front of her children, Junior, 20, and Princess.
Princess, now 18, revealed earlier this year that the trauma she suffered from the attack on her mum still haunts her, saying, ‘It’s one of the worst things I’ve experienced in my life. I get scared of the dark and driving at night-time, because that’s when it happened. I get random flashbacks.’
Katie ©NICKY JOHNSTON
Katie – who suffered severe PTSD from the incident, leading to a suicide attempt, subsequent treatment at the Priory rehabilitation clinic and weekly therapy sessions – remembers, ‘You know when kids say, “My mum would take a bullet for me.” Well, I did. I held my travel pillow up against my head, just waiting to be shot.
‘Because of everything that’s happened to me, that’s why my relationships with men… I’ve learnt in therapy that it’s why I’m so protective of my own kids. I worry about Princess – especially when it comes to photographers.’
Katie is also mum to 23-year-old Harvey from her year-long relationship with Dwight Yorke, and shares Junior and Princess with her former-husband of four years, Peter Andre. Splitting from Pete in 2009, Katie married Alex Reid a year later – but they split in 2012.
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She then married Kieran Hayler in 2013. The pair officially separated five years later – and last month, it was confirmed by police that Hayler, 38, is charged with three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl. The allegations, which he ‘strongly denies’, are said to have taken place between June and October 2016, and it’s understood that the alleged victim is not part of Katie or Kieran’s extended family.
Despite everything she’s been through, Katie is now looking to the future and relying on the few friends she does have – like Kerry, 45 – to keep her going. ‘I know I can tell her absolutely anything,’ she smiles. ‘It’s such a nice place to be in.’
