It was at a very Z-list launch party for reality show Geordie Shore last week that Katie Price kissed her on-off friend Kerry Katona. The resulting commotion was no doubt her intention.
Dressed in a tiny pair of black sequinned hotpants, she guffawed with laughter as she drunkenly bounced around the venue – the not exactly salubrious Thai Square restaurant near London‘s Trafalgar Square. Indeed, onlookers tell me she appeared to be ‘out of control’ and that her display was ‘not exactly in keeping with a 46-year-old’s behaviour’, as she screamed at her fellow reality TV stars not to speak to the press.
And yet none of this should come as a surprise. It was all very reminiscent of the Katie of old – or Jordan, as she was known then – who was very often the most outrageous person in the room. Jordan would make sure she was the talk of any celebrity party for days, though the chatter about her afterwards was usually far from pleasant.
Now, however, the talk is less mean-spirited and more concerned.
‘She seemed out of control,’ said a friend of hers who was also at the party. ‘Katie has the look of someone who is really, really troubled and it is very worrying.’
On Wednesday those fears increased not only amongs her family and friends, but also her fans when she posted a new Instagram video looking extremely thin.
The next day, Katie revealed she’s now been forced to get a non-surgical procedure to enhance her bottom, as it’s been left ‘flat’. She then brazenly showed off her behind.
Filming herself at an aesthetics clinic, where she had just topped up her lips, Katie proudly unveiled her plans.
‘Oh she’s done it again!’ she said, rather oddly speaking about herself in the third person. ‘She’s closer to looking like a Bratz doll! She’s done the lips at The Clinic Club. I just love it here, I’m obsessed with them here.’
Addressing her weight loss, Katie continued: ‘I’m that obsessed that, where I’ve lost loads and loads of weight, my a**e is now saggy. So no, I’ve got to have my bum filler done here. I can’t wait.’
Friends of Katie’s got in touch with me to say how fearful they are for her future as her obsession with plastic surgery spirals and yet more operations are planned.
‘How many times can she go under general anaesthetic?’ said one. ‘The next time might be the last because it could kill her. We are so worried that she could be dead soon, it is horrendous.
‘She is so frail, her body looks so fragile, you don’t know how much more she will be able to take.
‘It’s devastating – there are real fears she may not be with us for much longer.’
Two people who would give anything for Katie to lead a more normal life are two of her older children, Junior, 19, and Princess, 17, who she shares with singer-turned-reality star Peter Andre, 51.
Junior, who is forging his own career as a popstar, was also at the party which was held last week to mark the return of Geordie Shore to Paramount+ and posed up on the red carpet when he arrived.
Yet his presence didn’t exactly stop his wayward mother from behaving in her usual outlandish manner – something he has become accustomed to as he has grown into a young man.
‘He’s used to it,’ mused one friend of the family. Though: ‘He has been shielded from much of it because he has grown up with Pete.’
For Katie and Peter, who have been at war since they split in 2008, couldn’t have more differing parenting strategies, which has led to numerous clashes between the reality television stars.
After meeting on ITV’s I’m A Celeb back in 2004, the pair began dating – and a year later Junior arrived. Three months after his birth, in September 2005, they wed at Highclere Castle in Oxfordshire, with Katie arriving in a horse-drawn carriage.
Back then, they were a cultural phenomenon. So much so, they were paid more than £1 million for the rights to their wedding pictures by OK! magazine – and that edition remains one of their highest selling to date.
In June 2007, Katie gave birth to Princess but, just over two years later, she and Andre split.
Katie began to date cage fighter Alex Reid, while Pete remained single, wanting to provide a stable home for his children.
Today, he is married to a doctor named Emily and they have three children together. It’s said the pair have been ‘super strict’ with Junior and Princess, perhaps to offset how wild Katie has been.
‘Pete has had to really support them over their mum’s behaviour. It has been worrying for him,’ said a friend. ‘He and Katie don’t speak, but he massively respects she is their mother.’
An associate of Katie’s points out that if she had been punished more harshly for some of her actions, she might not be as wild as she is now. Famously Katie escaped prison twice, once in September 2021 when – after crashing her BMW – she was handed a 16-week suspended jail sentence and banned from driving for two years for drink-driving. During that court appearance, the prosecutor said Price had five previous driving bans.
Then the following June she breached a restraining order blocking contact with her ex-husband Kieran Hayler’s fiancee Michelle Penticost – and instead of jail was handed an 18-month community order to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Some of those close to Katie say they think she has failed to learn the lessons of her bad behaviour in the past, and that this leniency in the courts is partly to blame.
‘Katie hasn’t ever had to face any consequences, she just keeps getting away with it, and hasn’t really hit rock bottom yet,’ said a pal.
‘She seems to have just gone through life not giving a s***. But the fear is that one day something really bad will happen – and then it will be too late.’
