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KATIE Price pushes open the heavy wooden front door of her West Sussex home.
“Everyone thinks I’ve got a s**t house when I know I f**king haven’t! Is this a mucky mansion to you?”
“Welcome to the mucky mansion!” she declares, referring to reports that the house is in a state of disrepair, with dog dirt on the floors and piles of washing on every surface, “so revolting” it’s unsellable.
While the interior design is textbook Katie Price – an explosion of glitter, diamanté-encrusted furniture and animal-print textured wallpaper – for the record, it isn’t remotely mucky.
“And you’ve come off the cuff!” she says, jubilant. “I didn’t know you were coming here today so this is literally how it is.”
It’s true that doing the interview here at Pricey Towers had not been part of the plan.
“So these stories aren’t right. My house is good. I’m not skint. I’m not bankrupt. My kids are absolutely fine.”
Since we last met a year ago, Katie has lurched from one crisis to the next, although she’s on typically bullish form today, rejecting suggestions that she may have played some part in her difficulties and claiming that many of them have been exaggerated anyway.
But the truth is that, even by Katie’s standards, this has been a deeply troubling period, and she said herself in November that she hit “rock- bottom” late last summer.
A series of personal setbacks, heartache, court cases and financial woes culminated in a spell in rehab which, she’s keen to point out, was for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rather than any sort of substance abuse.
“It wasn’t about drugs or drink or nothing like that. I had severe PTSD because I couldn’t cope with all the s**t that was going on,” says Katie, who is back on screen a week tomorrow for a fourth spell of Quest Red’s My Crazy Life. “Last year was such a s**t year.”
Last September her mum Amy, 65 – a constant voice of calm and reason amid the chaos – expressed fears for her daughter, calling her “her own worst enemy” and saying she had been “tearing herself apart for years”. She added that seeing her crumble had been “unbearable” to witness.
“Ah, she’s only worried because I had so much stress going on,” says Katie. Always the master of deflection, she frequently makes light of things, using humour or ignoring the question completely to avoid confronting uncomfortable truths.
She’s an absolute force of nature, a complete one-off, in her element in front of the camera and utterly compelling company – but boy oh boy, she must drive those closest to her completely potty.
“I only listen when I want to,” she says.
Which, one imagines, is rarely. Does she understand what her mum was saying?
“Yeah, but that’s me and I’ve had so many people try and change me. But I’m 41 and I’ve got to where I am today because I am what I am. And I never murdered anyone! I’ve never done harm to anyone. I can’t help what the media say about me.”
She is, by and large, impenetrable and unemotional, but shows a flicker of fragility – a tiny chink in her armour – when asked just how bad things became last year.
“I couldn’t cope so I asked for help and I’m proud I did. I told my family: ‘This isn’t me.’ Things were really, really f**king bad. I went to the doctor and said: ‘Help me.’”
That’s how the four-week day patient spell at the Priory came about.
Her therapist encouraged her to have a cull of the toxic people in her life (she says the “cleansing” process left her with only three or four friends), and she finished up stronger and ready to start again.
“I’m just lucky that I’ve got such good family. I’m the warrior, the survivor. I got through it and now I can put up with anything. F**king hell, if I didn’t break then, I never will. I know I’m in the public eye but that means s**t. I’m still a human being. I’m not a robot.”
She’s effusive about her Priory experience.
“It’s amazing. I wish everyone could go. I’d love to be in there all the time. I think a lot of people missed me [when she finished her treatment] because I brightened it up. I’d try and be a joker in there so it wasn’t all morbid. That’s just the way I am. Some people were so down they wouldn’t mutter a word, but I got a smile from them because I like to bring people out of their shells. I bring out the best in people.”
She casually recounts the series of catastrophic events which caused her to spiral. Sit tight.
“Well, first I found out my mum was terminally ill, then I caught Kieran [Hayler, 32, her third husband] with the nanny. Then I had a kidnap threat with Harvey [Katie’s 17-year-old disabled son].
“Then there was commotion outside my house and I realised one of my horses had escaped and he had to get shot on the road. And around the same time my German Shepherd got run over and killed on my driveway by a takeaway delivery driver, and they’ve not even said sorry.
“Then my other horse had to be put down all of a sudden because he got arthritis. Then I had the carjacking incident in South Africa at gunpoint. Then I caught Kieran messaging two other girls. And he was causing trouble between me and Pete [Andre, 46, her first husband].”
Last June, Peter temporarily took full-time care of Junior and Princess, now 14 and 12, after reportedly growing concerned about Katie’s partying.
“He thought I was some addict or whatever, even though I was self-medicating. And all of that got to me, so I went to the doctor and said: ‘Look, I can’t cope with all this stress,’ and they said: ‘No wonder.’”
It’s hard to know how to start unpacking all that information. The terrifying carjacking while filming My Crazy Life in March last year left Katie reeling. Junior and Princess witnessed the ordeal and she says she still can’t believe they all escaped with their lives.
“My friend got knocked unconscious, blood everywhere and his eye socket is f***ed. I was punched in the face and the kids saw everything. That’s why I’m getting a protection dog. It’s had a massive toll. The police said we were lucky we didn’t get shot.”
We move on to the reported threats of bankruptcy. Katie point blank denies she has money worries, although it’s been widely documented that after months of legal wrangles a debt repayment plan was agreed → with her creditors. “I’ve never been bankrupt,” she says.
“And to say I’ve got no money and my kids are sleeping on the floor isn’t true. I’m still in my same house. Nothing has changed and it’s not on the market. If anything I’m spending money doing the house up, I’ve got scaffolding outside at the minute because I’m having it all painted.”
The driving offences, which have seen her banned for driving while disqualified and for being drunk in charge of a vehicle, are also played down.
“I wasn’t ever arrested for drink driving. I wasn’t driving – I was in the back of my car. But that obviously didn’t help things with Pete because he thought I’d lost the plot. One of my best friends nearly died in a drink driving accident so I would never drink drive.”
She refutes any suggestion she’s had a problem with alcohol.
“No, never. I’m a binge drinker – all or nothing – and when I do go out, which is hardly ever, I make the most of it. I’m such a lightweight but I’ll last all night and that’s the trouble. One night out for me is two weeks of grief. I don’t act any differently anyone else but I have to read about it the next day. People have camera phones and you always look shocking in them.
“I’m allowed to let my hair down and I want go out and enjoy myself. So what if I’m not politically correct? I’m a lady when I need to be. I can play up when I need to. I’m a mum when I need to be. I’m professional when I need to be and if I wanna let my hair down I will do that as well.
“It doesn’t hurt me when they question my ability as a mum because I know I have no worries there. My kids are loved, brought up well, have good manners. I mean, look at Harvey. I’ve brought him up myself. He’s so loving and wonderful. He can’t cheat that – that is what he is.”
Her devotion to Harvey is unquestionable. She’s managed his many disabilities – he is blind, autistic and suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome – with astonishing tenacity, taking her Harvey’s Law campaign to make online abuse a criminal offence all the way to Parliament. She’s spoken before a select committee and has won the backing of her MP Nick Herbert, who debated the issue at Westminster Hall in April following the online petition instigated by Katie.
“People have to remember Harvey has medication six times a day. If he doesn’t take his medication he will die. He’s never been rushed to hospital for missing it, has he? If I was this neglectful mum you would know from Harvey, so that speaks for itself.”
For the last few months Harvey has been in residential care from Monday to Friday after Katie finally admitted they both needed some extra support.
“I didn’t want him to go, but when he’s here he smashes windows. He’s a risk to himself. At night he steals food, which isn’t good for his weight. He absolutely loves it there. I literally kitted out his room like his one at home with the ball pit and TV, kept everything the same. And I taught him how to FaceTime me, so we do that in the morning and evening, and come Wednesday I go up and see him, even if it’s for 15 minutes for a cuddle while he goes to sleep.
“I now know what sleep is again because for 17 years he’s woken up every night twice a night. He wets the bed and he wakes everyone up in the house. As much as I look forward to the weekends with him, I’m loving it.”
Romantically, she says she’s happy with personal trainer Kris Boyson, 30, although viewers of My Crazy Life might be surprised to see Kieran featuring heavily in the episodes, and relations seemingly very amicable. Mediation over custody arrangements for their children Jett, five, and four-year-old Bunny proved a big success.
“Now Kieran has accepted he’s a cheat and always will be I have banter with him about it. He’d love to get back with me, but I’d never trust him. He’ll never change,” she says.
Kieran has apparently agreed to a “quickie divorce” on the grounds of adultery, but rather than giving herself a breather, Katie is keen to marry again.
“I can’t wait. I want that Prince Charming, to be with him forever. I thought Kieran was forever. I thought they all were. I think it has to be fourth time lucky. I wanna look at that someone and not have my head turned.”
Has she got that in Kris?
“Yes, and I had it with Pete, 100%. And Kieran until the end when I just lost respect for him.”
Does she have any regrets?
“Doing Eurovision.”
There’s the deflection again. Pressed once more on what she might have handled differently, she concedes.
“I probably wouldn’t have got married [to Kieran] so quickly,” she says. “And with Pete, I probably wouldn’t have done so much stuff in the media because I reckon we still would be together if certain people hadn’t been involved, 100%.
“But you learn, and maybe it wouldn’t have made me the person I am today. I’m a hopeless romantic and at least that’s a good side to me. I’m very loving.”
She seems fearless. Does anything scare her?
“Spiders.”
Seriously, though.
“Not having my kids. Not ever being married again and having that family unit. Losing money or whatever doesn’t faze me, but it’s all about family for me.”
Speculation that baby number six is on the way is wide of the mark, although she does want more children.
“I want to have my own, but if I can’t I’ll adopt or get a surrogate. Kris definitely wants kids.”
She reels off her future plans, which include a calendar, another book, a single out next month and “getting my body back” after a 2st gain, which has left her feeling self-conscious (“I had lipo and sorted it”).
There are also grand designs on becoming a judge on Britain’s Got Talent (watch your back, Amanda!), performing at the Royal Albert Hall, presenting Love Island and doing another Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.
Despite her many surgeries (she’s delighted with the results of her third facelift but is planning on getting the new bum implants removed) she insists she has no qualms about ageing. She’s determined that her 40s is going to be her best decade yet.
“The naughty f**king 40s! I’m gonna play up more than ever before. Oh yes!
And that doesn’t mean partying – I’m gonna play the game and be back to that businesswoman. I’m really excited.”
Hold on to your hats, folks. It looks like the new chapter is just getting going…
Book you read?
I can’t remember which one it was but it was on child abuse. I only read true stuff.
Box set you watched?
Doctor Foster, Silent Witness and Dirty John. That is Kieran to a tee.
Time you lost your temper?
I haven’t got a temper! I’m so laid-back, it takes a lot for me to go.
Time you cried?
It was to do with the kids and Pete. A frustration cry.
Time you were drunk?
Porn Idol at GAY. You’ll have seen that in the papers.
Time you had sex?
Two days ago.
