Katie: ‘I’m only alive because of my kids’
The former glamour model gets real about how she finally faced her demons
She’s been out of the limelight for months to get herself together, and has declared she’s feeling better than ever before. Now, Katie Price has lifted the lid on what was going on behind the scenes – revealing in a special episode of her reality TV show My Crazy Life that she’d checked herself into rehab in February, after getting “to the point where I just wanted to kill myself”.
In the one-hour special, to be shown next week, the 41 year old gets candid about the emotional and mental turmoil she faced after being declared bankrupt, splitting from her on/off fiancé Kris Boyson, and worrying about her mum Amy, who has a terminal lung condition. She reveals she checked herself into the Priory rehab centre when she realised she had to get better for the sake of her kids – Harvey, 17, Junior, 14, Princess, 12, Jett, six, and five-year-old Bunny.
The episode begins with Katie trying to get her career back on track at the start of the year, flying out to the Alps for a singing gig and holding a make-up masterclass. But bad publicity hits her hard, and when she finds out that her dog Sparkle has been hit by a car, it all gets too much. “It got to the point where I was going to kill myself,” she tells the cameras. “I had thoughts of how I was going to do it. The only reason I’m sitting here now is because of my children.”
Katie then spends a month at the Priory, 18 months after first checking in amid revelations of cocaine abuse. She reveals she’d turned to drink and drugs, but is now committed to turning her life around. “I need to get myself well for Harvey and the kids,” she explains. “This is something that’s been brewing for a while. I started to lose everything around me, and I couldn’t cope with it.”
Following her treatment, we see Katie get her life back on track, visit her mum – who’s self-isolating, so can only see her through a window – and go into self-isolation herself with Harvey and her close friend, personal trainer Al Warrell. The other kids stay with their dads in order to protect Harvey, who has Prader-willi syndrome. Closing the special, Katie says, “I’ve been slowly going off the rails for just over ten years. I’ve been to hell and back, but I’m starting to feel like me again. It just goes to show, if I can do it, anyone can.” ■
If you want to talk to someone about your mental health, call Samaritans on 116 123, or you can email jo@ samaritans.org or visit Hubof hope.co.uk