Flaws don’t dim Katie’s intellect
R“NOT very bright, is she?” said my friend, turning from the TV news images of Katie Price,AKA former model and page three item Jordan, showing her being bundled out of court under a blanket.
Magistrates had just warned her she could be sent to jail after a drink-drive crash in her BMW while uninsured and disqualified from driving – I could see why my friend thinks Katie is a bit short of the grey matter.
But he’s wrong.To the best of my knowledge Katie, who I have met and interviewed many, many times, has never submitted to an IQ test. If she did, I’d bet as much as a bookie would take that she’d score way over the average.
I’ve been interviewing people for newspapers, radio and television for almost 50 years and you can’t help but develop a nose for intelligence (or stupidity, come to that).
I suppose it’s a little like what Steven King describes as “the shining” in his novel of the same name and I’m sure many of you reading this know exactly what I mean.
A sort of luminance that glows around people born naturally bright. It doesn’t necessarily transmit through a TV screen, hence my friend’s scathing remark. But it’s unmistakable in the flesh.
We should never confuse addiction and self-destructive behaviour with stupidity. The demons that delight in pursuing flawed and fallible mortals make no distinctions based on relative intelligence.We are all fair game.
Some of literature’s shining stars were (or are) hopeless alcoholics or drug addicts or both.
Those malign imps and goblins may even take a particular pleasure in probing the weak spots in the brighter among us.
But back to Katie. She was born Katrina Infield in Brighton and excelled at sport – she was a county swimmer and a skilled horse rider.
But she subsequently described the rest of her family as, “really brainy... I’m the Del Boy of my family. My mum says it’s because I don’t listen. I’m more of an instinct girl – everything goes in one ear and out the other.” If you say so, Katie.
It’s certainly not been my experience interviewing her on live TV, where you need your wits about you. Katie picks up very quickly on questions and her estuary accent masks what is in fact an extensive vocabulary.
Her son Harvey, 19, was born autistic and partially blind and Katie has been a tiger (single) mother to him. She has made two highly acclaimed documentaries about life with Harvey. Watch them, and you cannot fail to be moved and impressed by her.
Katie is now in rehab confronting her demons and I wish her nothing but the best and the strength to live clean from now on.