She’s putting Harvey into residential care, but Katie Price still wants to adopt a sixth kid
...and the controversial star pushes ahead with adoption plans
As a mum to five children from three different fathers, Katie Price’s life is undeniably complicated, particularly when it comes to her eldest, Harvey. The 16 year old has a number of disabilities, including Prader-willi syndrome, autism, and partial blindness, and, last week, Katie shocked her fans by revealing she is putting her son into care. At the start of the week, Katie and Harvey appeared on TV, where she announced she was considering respite care from Monday to Friday and, just days later, she went on a different show to say he had been given a residential place at his school, and is due to start very soon.
Speaking about how difficult Harvey is, she said, “He is now six foot two, 24 stone, and he’s still growing. And he kicks off. The other day, he kicked a chair across a room over a muffin. On Instagram, I only show him when he’s good. But he’s got a side to him. My house is smashed to bits. This year, he has broken eight ipads and four TVS. Someone might bang the door and he’ll chuck something. Some people think I’m out of order [sending him into care], but people don’t understand the situation.”
An insider close to Katie, 40, tells heat, “She wants to do it on her terms, and would even love to build a home for Harvey. She won’t ever leave him, but his behaviour has become difficult to manage, and that’s aside from all of his usual care. Katie doesn’t feel she can cope alone, as she can’t give Harvey the round-the-clock attention he needs, particularly as she’s in the midst of her ‘big comeback’ after everything that happened last year.”
Last week, on her first TV interview, Katie said that Harvey – whose father is former footballer Dwight Yorke – was “one of the best things that’s ever happened to me”. Our insider tells us that Katie “wants to give Harvey the opportunity to live as close to a normal life as possible. She says she’ll work all hours to afford the extra care, and that she realises she has to put Harvey’s needs first.”
And with Katie’s financial issues still plaguing her, our source explains that she is looking to downsize her house, anyway. “She doesn’t have all of her five kids all the time, so she doesn’t need all the room she currently has. Besides which, she can’t
afford the upkeep of her home and its grounds. She needs less stress in her life, and Harvey needs full-time care, which she just can’t give him.”
But, despite the outpouring of support for Katie and her tough decision, others were quick to pour doubt on her claim that she has no “respite”, and cares for Harvey all by herself. They pointed out that she’s frequently pictured on nights out and holidays without her children. In fact, just days before, she was hundreds of miles from home in Liverpool, with on/off boyfriend Kris Boyson, 30.
Fans were also left baffled when Katie reiterated on-air that she is in the process of adopting a Nigerian orphan, and would even be keen to have another biological child. Katie said, “I would love to adopt, but I still want my own. I don’t care if they’ve got disabilities or anything, I’m just so loving, and I’d just like to offer a home to a child that’s not wanted.”
One fan wrote, “I’m confused. The other week, you were saying you want to adopt a child with or without disabilities from Nigeria. Now, in this interview, you’re talking about putting Harvey into residential care Monday to Friday because you can’t cope.”
‘My house is smashed to bits. People don’t understand’