Katie Price shocked followers when she revealed she had married her fourth husband after understanding him for simply a mumber of days, however why does she want a man to really feel validation, asks Olivia Buxton
Why does Katie Price always want a man to really feel validated? asks Olivia Buxton(Image: Getty Images)
When Katie Price married businessman Lee Andrews in Dubai simply ten days after they first met, the pace of their romance shocked even these used to her dramatic love life.
The ceremony — her fourth marriage — happened on the Royal Mirage, a five-star lodge on the well-known Palm Jumeirah island, as soon as once more thrusting the previous glamour mannequin into the highlight. Later, it emerged that her husband was businessman Lee Andrews, whom Price has described as her “real-life Richard Gere”.
But for a lot of observers, the real shock was not the marriage itself, however the acquainted sample it appeared to observe. For three a long time, Price — as soon as recognized merely as “Jordan” — has lived a lot of her life within the public eye, with a string of intense romances, break-ups and reconciliations alongside the way in which.
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Yet behind the drama, many consider there may be a deeper story driving Price’s turbulent love life — one rooted in childhood trauma and a lifelong seek for stability and affection. The newest marriage shocked not solely followers but in addition her kids, Junior and Princess Andre, who discovered of the engagement by way of a household WhatsApp message. Price has since dismissed their issues, insisting that her life has by no means adopted a standard path.
“Of course, my family are going to worry; I wouldn’t expect anything different,” she stated. “They love me, and they’ve seen me go through so much heartache and the most horrific times. So I don’t blame them for being p***ed off and angry. But I’m not a kid any more. I am 47, I can make my own choices, and I will. They have to give me that chance to go and find out for myself.”
The shock nuptials got here simply weeks after Price cut up from actuality star JJ Slater in early January after two years collectively. Price later stated she didn’t need to keep in a relationship that wasn’t proper — one thing she felt she had completed prior to now.
“I love the guy, but I’m not in love with him,” she defined on her podcast, including the connection had begun to really feel extra like a friendship. Within days, she had moved on, asserting her new engagement and leaving followers in shock. To perceive why her relationships so usually unfold at such pace, many observers level to the experiences that formed her lengthy earlier than fame.
Born Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Infield in Brighton in 1978, Price was simply 4 years previous when her mother and father separated after her organic father, Ray Infield, had quite a few affairs. Her mom later married Paul Price, whose surname Katie adopted – she nonetheless calls him dad to today. Although she has usually described her childhood as joyful — notably her love of horses — she has additionally stated bodily affection was largely absent.
“I’ve got no memory of me cuddling my real dad. No memory at all,” she advised life coach and behavioural knowledgeable Paul C. Brunson on his ‘We Need To Talk’ podcast final 12 months.
“And then with Paul, I can’t even remember any times Paul cuddling me either. But this is the thing — I’m such a cuddly, loving person. I suppose with my horses I would give it to them and I would get something back from them… like my love.” Her childhood was additionally marked by trauma. Price has spoken publicly about being sexually assaulted in her native park when she was seven years previous.
“Well, when I was seven basically, a man did something to me in a bush, and I remember all the police being called,” she recalled. They took all our underwear and every part. And he was mainly saying to us, ‘If you let me do this to you, I’ll go and get you an ice cream.’ I can nonetheless keep in mind his face now… So that was my first, I suppose, traumatic factor with a man. And I used to be seven years previous.” Another troubling expertise adopted when she started modelling as a teenager.
At 13, Price attended a casting the place a photographer invited her to his home for a photoshoot and repeatedly supplied her a “pineapple milkshake”. “But I didn’t want it. I didn’t like it. So I actually never drank it,” she stated. Child safety officers later arrived on the property and arrested the photographer, who was utilizing a number of identities and had drugged younger women.
Her early experiences formed how she approached relationships. Price has stated that whereas she had crushes at college, she was “petrified” of kissing boys and described herself as “frigid.”
Her first severe relationship got here when she was simply 15 — with a man ten years older who had not too long ago been launched from jail. “I was 15, and he was 25,” she advised Brunson on his podcast. “My mum went nuts about it, however I denied it to her and stored seeing him.”
Looking again, she accepts that her mom was attempting to defend her. “Now I realise she wasn’t stopping me — she was defending me,” Price stated. The relationship quickly turned unstable. “He was really jealous,” she stated. “If we were in a petrol station, he’d ask if I was looking at other men, so I’d just stare straight ahead.” On a number of events, she claimed, his behaviour turned excessive.
“My mum had to pick me up a few times because he’d cut all my clothes off and I’d be standing there naked,” she stated. “Oh my God, it took ages to get out of that relationship.” Psychological therapist and tv commentator Emma Kenny says early experiences like these can have a profound influence on how individuals strategy relationships later in life.”
“Childhood trauma fundamentally shapes the way a person learns to form attachments,” she explains. “When a child experiences abuse, abandonment or instability, their sense of safety in the world can be fractured very early on. As adults, they may unconsciously search for reassurance through relationships, often seeking partners who provide the emotional security they felt was missing in childhood.
“This isn’t a conscious choice. It’s the brain attempting to recreate familiarity and connection, even when those patterns ultimately prove unhealthy.” Price herself has usually linked her tough early experiences to the turbulent relationships that adopted. “My thing that’s always been wrong in my life is men… they’ve always let me down,” she as soon as admitted.
Price’s path to fame started when she was nonetheless a teenager rising up in Brighton. Her life modified dramatically on 20 September 1996 when, aged 18, she appeared topless on Page 3 beneath the title “Jordan”, launching a modelling profession that rapidly made her one among Britain’s most recognisable glamour fashions.
As her fame skyrocketed, she sparked headlines with one high-profile romance after one other. Her first was with Warren Furman, recognized to hundreds of thousands as “Ace” on Gladiators. They turned engaged within the late Nineteen Nineties however cut up after round 18 months. In 2002, she welcomed her eldest son, Harvey, with footballer Dwight Yorke. Harvey was born blind and later identified with autism and Prader-Willi syndrome. Around the identical time, she turned engaged to boyband singer Dane Bowers between 1998 and 2000, although the connection ended after public rows. She was additionally engaged to Scott Sullivan within the early 2000s.
Price’s most well-known relationship started in 2004 when she met singer Peter Andre on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Their jungle romance captivated the general public, and they married in a lavish ceremony in 2005, welcoming two kids — Junior and Princess. But their marriage collapsed dramatically in 2009, turning into some of the talked-about celeb breakups of the last decade. Price married cage fighter Alex Reid in 2010, although the connection lasted lower than a 12 months.
In 2013, she married Kieran Hayler within the Bahamas, earlier than separating in 2018 after Hayler admitted to dishonest on her a number of instances, together with with the household nanny. Their divorce was finalised in 2021. Over the years, Price has been engaged eight instances and not too long ago married for the fourth time. Despite telling Brunson on his podcast final May that she could be joyful if she had been single, it appears she can not resist being with a man.
Psychological therapist Emma Kenny says patterns like these can typically mirror deeper emotional drivers rooted in earlier life experiences. “Katie’s history of intense, fast-moving relationships is something we often see in people who struggle with what therapists sometimes describe as love addiction,” she explains. “In those cases, the emotional high of falling in love can become a powerful form of validation and escape.
“When the relationship begins to settle, or conflict emerges, that same intensity can quickly flip into disappointment or instability. It isn’t necessarily about the partners themselves — it’s often about an underlying need for emotional reassurance that the relationship alone can’t fully provide.” Price’s struggles haven’t been restricted to relationships. Over the years, she has confronted authorized hassle, dependancy battles and psychological well being challenges, and has spoken brazenly about receiving therapy for nervousness and stress on the Priory. In her memoir This Is Me, she revealed she had been identified with ADHD later in life — one thing she stated helped clarify years of impulsive behaviour.
She has additionally spoken about struggles together with her physique picture and shallowness, admitting in interviews and on her podcast that she will be her personal harshest critic. In current months, she has sparked contemporary concern together with her dramatic weight reduction, confessing that she is consuming usually however nonetheless losing a few pounds and has sought medical exams to search out out why her body has develop into so gaunt.
Her daughter, Princess Andre, can be deeply frightened, remarking that her mom’s legs are so skinny they “might snap.’ Yet even amid personal setbacks, Price has shown a remarkable ability to reinvent herself, launching businesses and writing books, keeping her career firmly in the public eye for three decades.
However, it is her personal life that continues to make headlines. Since tying the knot in Dubai, Price and Andrews have spent much of their time in the United Arab Emirates, though the relationship has already sparked controversy. Andrews has previously served time in prison and faced accusations from his former girlfriend and other women that he scammed them out of money — allegations that emerged shortly after the couple’s whirlwind wedding.
Price has publicly defended her husband. “I can reassure everyone at home that I haven’t gone for a con man,” she stated. “I haven’t gone for a scammer. There was no love bombing.” Speaking not too long ago on her podcast, The Katie Price Show, Price joked that she “traumatises f*****g everyone” after revealing she left her mom Amy in tears throughout a hospital go to over her current nuptials. Later within the episode, the dialog turned to relationships — and how rapidly individuals declare their emotions.
Discussing the concept of somebody saying “love you” after a first date, Price dismissed the notion outright. “Get lost,” she stated — earlier than acknowledging her personal tendency to maneuver quick in romance, admitting she had as soon as married after simply “two-three weeks”.
And after three a long time within the highlight, that headlong rush into love stays maybe essentially the most acquainted storyline of all within the ever-dramatic lifetime of Katie Price.
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