Katie Price should be a national treasure but instead it’s like watching a car crash in slow motion
THERE’S nobody quite like The Pricey.
Katie Price has dominated headlines for nearly 30 years and – whatever your opinion of her – it’s fair to say she’s still keeping people intrigued.
I’ve always been a huge fan and I was positively giddy when I first met her as a young reporter in 2015.
Which makes it even harder to watch as she acts like a Love Island star chasing their 15 minutes of fame rather than someone who should be of national treasure status by this point.
As bold and brash glamour girl Jordan, Katie dominated the lads’ mags and was a natural at playing the fame game.
How many UK glamour models made the cover of US Playboy? Katie did. And how many of them are we still talking about three decades on? I can only think of one.
She knew exactly how to guarantee column inches, which – at a time when there was no social media – was crucial to staying relevant.
Running for London Mayor and promising free surgery for everybody? She did it. Performing on Eurovision in a skintight pink catsuit while heavily pregnant? To this day she calls this her biggest regret.
But her biggest regret should be pressing self-destruct on a showbiz career that could – and should – have turned out so differently.
In 2004 she retired Jordan and cashed in on ‘relatable’ Katie Price when she entered the I’m a Celebrity jungle. We all know her and Peter Andre’s story and their split is where it started going wrong for her.
During the marriage, everything she touched turned to gold: books, perfumes, beauty products, electronics – you name it.
But the split didn’t have to mean the end of all of this. In fact, it could have been the beginning of a new Katie: the independent single mother who could juggle raising her kids with a successful media career while keeping a dignified silence about her divorce.
Instead, Katie decided to drag Peter through the mud at every available opportunity and jumped straight into marrying Alex Reid.
She then proceeded to bounce from one fame-hungry bloke to another before eventually ending up with current flame JJ Slater, who is perhaps the hungriest of them all.
But we all want to be loved and I’m not condemning Katie for chasing her happily ever after. I’ve met her many times over the years and I’ve always had the same impression of her: despite her natural beauty and many years as the object of mens’ fantasies up and down the country, she is one of the most insecure people I’ve ever come across.
Maybe this is partly down to the way men have treated her in the past – it’s like she can’t see when someone is using her to further their own career.
Everything you need to know about Katie Price
Step inside the life of former glamour model Katie Price
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Katie throws herself head-first into every relationship and genuinely believes each time that she’s finally found the one.
But every Z-list lover cheapens her brand further. Then we have her Mucky Mansion and the £30m fortune that’s been replaced with not one but two bankruptcies and the relentless surgery and the tattoos.
Her own mum Amy previously revealed altering her appearance is Katie’s way of dealing with crisis, while sister Sophie even asked if it was a form of self-harm.
And then there are Katie’s seemingly never ending legal woes. She’s been slammed by the public for skipping court over her bankruptcy multiple times and who could forget her 2021 car crash following a drink and drugs bender?
In 2015 2.6m people watched Katie win Celebrity Big Brother. Today she’s struggling to sell-out 400 capacity venues for her podcast tour.
Something has gone seriously wrong and I’m starting to wonder if this one time queen of reinvention can still turn it around.
But – as she always says – never underestimate The Pricey.
Katie Price's missing millions
The cash-strapped mum-of-five was first declared bankrupt in 2019 over unpaid debts of £3.2 million.
She was declared bankrupt for a second time in March over an unpaid tax bill of £761,994.05.
The demand for payment was made by HMRC last October.
Katie was due to give evidence about her finances at the High Court last month but failed to turn up – holidaying in Cyprus with her new man JJ Slater instead.
Mucky Mansion has been a bomb site for years after it was burgled, flooded and swamped by an overflowing septic tank.
Katie paid £1.35 million for the home back in October 2014 when she bought it from Tory peer Francis Maude.
A notice of eviction addressed to Katie, 45, has now reportedly been pinned to a fence outside her 8,000-square-foot, nine-bed pile.