How did UK’s tawdriest reality star blow £45m fortune?
She was the queen of tacky ladette culture. Now as Katie Price is given three months to stave off bankruptcy...
well-placed observer says Katie, who has always been proud of doing things her way (‘no one’s going to tell me what to do and how to do it’), has fallen prey to the curse of reality TV.
‘I’ve seen it again and again with reality TV stars. and really that’s what Katie is — she was in the first wave of structured reality with those fly-on-the-wall shows she did,’ the source said. ‘It was money for old rope and she thought the tap would never be turned off.
‘But everyone gets old. everyone has a shelf life. Katie made the mistake of thinking she was immune, and she was spending money like it was water. horses, cars, ridiculous gifts for the men in her life. Unfortunately for her there was a series called The Only way Is essex which blew the lid off her little family business.
‘Suddenly there were a whole load more like her out there, who were younger, better looking and — most importantly of all — cheaper.
‘Katie’s never had a USP [unique selling point]. She just got lucky. So when she was getting people to write books in her name and flogging the sixth autobiography it was all a great laugh.
‘The problem is that when you earn easy money, it’s easy to forget you need to put some aside. when there were all those headlines about her being worth £45million, she used to love it. She kept spending on the basis that she had assets to fall back on.
‘Then, when the work started to dry up, she was chipping away at the assets. Remortgaging the house. and eventually selling off the family silver. There’s an unfortunate little detail called tax which tends to catch out people like Katie in the end.’
her representative told the Press association: ‘Katie is aware of the [bankruptcy] hearing and is working with her advisers to resolve her financial issues. She hopes to be in a position to do so and reach agreement with her creditors.’
For her part, Katie has always insisted she’s ‘not flash’ and the sheer determination with which she has assailed the heights having embarked on a modelling career as a 16-year-old would suggest that writing her off as a fading reality television star may be a little premature.
‘when you come from a background of no money, there is always part of you that thinks you could go back to that place,’ she said in 2012. ‘I like to think I’m generous, but not stupid, with money.’
She said much the same two years later: ‘I have a nice house, but my money goes on my kids, holidays and into the business.
‘you have to know your worth, too. It’s why I wouldn’t advise anyone to be a model any more because the money has all gone. and then you have to keep reinventing yourself.’
Given all the many faces we’ve seen of Katie Price so far, perhaps there is another reinvention just around the corner.