Kieran Hayler
Katie Price’s estranged hubby opens up about his bullying hell and his fears for Jett and Bunny
Last week, Katie Price’s estranged husband Kieran Hayler shared a video on Instagram in which he spoke openly about being bullied at school. Bravely facing the camera, he revealed how he endured “three years of hell” and said the experience made him wet the bed at the age of 13.
And now, with two children of his own – Jett, six, and Bunny, five – who are regularly in the limelight thanks to their mum’s reality show, he admits he’s worried about how they will cope with the inevitable fame and the scrutiny that comes with it.
Kieran, 32, who is now with girlfriend Michelle Penticost, 37, is determined to keep Jett and Bunny’s life as normal as possible. Katie, on the other hand, seems keener to put them in the spotlight, having them model for her clothing range and appear on My Crazy Life on a weekly basis.
It has been reported that 41-year-old Katie’s recent actions have angered Kieran – from her bitter split from Kris Boyson, who the kids had grown increasingly close to, to reports of a new toyboy in the shape of Charles Drury and a wild holiday that meant the children missed their first day back at school.
Reports also claim that Kieran is going for full custody of Jett
and Bunny and that he and Peter Andre, father of Katie’s older kids Princess and Junior, are “worried sick”. So we sat down with Kieran to set the record straight. Here, the former stripper tells us why it’s hard to see his children “plastered everywhere”, the reality of co-parenting with Pricey and the truth behind the recent headlines…
Hi Kieran. First of all, what’s the response been like to your bullying video?
I haven’t had a single negative comment. It’s mainly people telling me the video has helped them and that they could relate to it, which obviously touched my heart and made me feel great. Why do you think you were a target for bullies?
I really struggled with fitting in. I floated between groups and couldn’t figure out where I belonged, and because of that people took advantage of me.
I got bullied purely over my looks. I had glasses and longish hair and I used to change my hairstyle all the time to try and fit in. I once dyed it blonde and wore it in curtains to look like David Beckham because I thought people might like me more.
Did it work?
Of course not! I’d get verbal abuse, pushed around, spat on. They would fight me at school and I wouldn’t fight back because I never wanted the fight to begin with.
And it caused you to wet the bed as a teenager, didn’t it?
Sadly so. Even though the teachers were great, the experience really affected me. It made me nervous and anxious and that manifested itself in bed wetting. That was horrible and embarrassing. I didn’t want to be doing that as a teenager. It was awful. But I couldn’t help it. When you’re being picked on, your body reacts to that stress.
How bad did the bullying get?
It was tough, but even at my lowest I never, ever thought about suicide or anything like that, because I knew deep down there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Never succumb to bullies. You should always strive to be better than them.
And you ended up becoming a hot stripper and marrying one of the most famous sex symbols in the country!
Well, exactly. I saw that as a victory for me. When I left school all I wanted to do was get ripped and muscly and change my hairstyle. I wanted to be the one people wouldn’t mess with – the one who had all the attention from the women. Becoming a stripper, now that was an achievement for me. When you walk out on stage and 500 women are screaming at you, that’s a huge adrenaline rush and that was a massive thing. I’d never had attention like that before.
Would you say that had anything to do with your sex addiction and cheating on Katie?
I wouldn’t relate the two, to be honest. A lot happened in that relationship that wasn’t great and I couldn’t really call that a result of being bullied.
You once told us Kate spoke to you “like shit” during the marriage. Did that trigger memories of being bullied?
Of course, but it’s not even just with Kate, it’s when anyone’s
‘WHEN I LEFT SCHOOL, ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS GET RIPPED AND MUSCLY’
horrible to me. When people say cruel, untrue things about me on social media, which can happen a lot, usually after a story about Kate, that hurts. No matter what it is, it will bring back memories.
Now you’re a father yourself, are you nervous about Jett and Bunny being exposed to bullying?
If you’re a parent who has experienced bullying first-hand, it will always be on your mind that this could happen to your children. It can happen to anyone. But I will do anything to make sure my kids don’t suffer like I did.
But what if your child becomes the bully?
I’d like to think that as a result of the way I was treated my kids will never be that person. And if I ever found out they were hurting someone else, I would step up and explain just how bad it is and there would be consequences. I would never let them be the bully. I’m bringing them up right.
You say “I’m” bringing them up right. You co-parent with Katie. Is she on the same page as you about how you raise the kids?
She’s protecting Harvey massively with Harvey’s Law, so I like to think she’ll do the same for Jett and Bunny. We do our best to co-parent as well as we can in that respect. Everyone thinks Kate’s solid inside because she puts on this hard front, but when she gets mean comments and she’s bullied online it still hurts her deep down.
Did she ever confide in you about your shared experiences?
We touched briefly on it, but Kate doesn’t talk freely about it. You have to really probe her to get her to open up about stuff like that. She thinks everyone’s out to get her and I think that makes her feel bullied. Be it by the press or online trolls – seriously, people say horrible stuff to her all the time. She gets shouted at in the street, sworn at…
But do you think she encourages it by putting herself in very welldocumented bad situations?
It’s a tough one. Kate’s life is out there and it is crazy, but she gets no privacy and people will always judge her. I know a lot of the stories about her are true, but they’re not nice to read. She reads them and it makes her think, “Is that really my life?” It’s a crazy existence.
Do you worry about Jett and Bunny being in that world?
The only way you can protect children who are in the public eye is if both parents work together. They have to be singing from the same hymn sheet.
But you’re not singing from the same hymn sheet – you prefer to keep the kids out of the limelight while Katie chooses to put them on camera…
The trouble is, she’s always going to be in the public eye.
She physically can’t come out of it now. We made the decision to have children together and in doing that I always knew my kids would be raised in the limelight. That’s not really a choice, that’s a fact. It’s just about trying to manage it now we’re not together any more. I’m trying to be as normal as possible. Where Katie’s life is as far from “normal” as you can possibly get, I’m hoping their time with me keeps them balanced.
Do you think you co-parent well?
At the end of the day, I’m just trying to be the best dad I can be. And I know Kate’s trying to be the best mum she can be. Jett and Bunny can come to mine and there are no camera crews. They get a break from it and that’s key for me.
Do they ever seem fed up with it?
They just think it’s normal life when they’re with their mum.
Be honest, are you happy with them being on camera?
It’s hard to see them plastered everywhere from such a young age, but come on, I’ve got kids with Katie Price. I knew that was the deal from the beginning. I’m just going to keep them more private on my side, at least until they’re old enough to decide for themselves what route they want to take. Which aspect of their fame scares you the most?
For me, the main thing will be how they cope with people slating them online. Obviously you shouldn’t care what people think of you, but if someone’s being horrible about your looks or your choices, that’s definitely going to hurt. There are so many horrible people in the world. I’m just hoping they have thick skin.
Katie’s first husband Peter Andre has also spoken about being bullied at school. Did you guys ever bond over your mutual experiences?
It was never really discussed between us.
How do you think Pete handles all the Katie drama?
Me and Pete are very similar in the way we parent. We just try to ignore the madness. He’s like me in that he just wants to be the best dad he can be under the circumstances.
We need to address the reports about Katie and her new boyfriend – what do you know?
To be honest, I’ve got no idea what’s going on there. I’ve only seen what I’ve read in new! and in the papers. Kate’s not going to talk to me about it and obviously Kris isn’t going to talk to me. I don’t think anyone knows what the truth is apart from those two.
Did the kids talk to you about what went on during their holiday?
All they’ve said is that they had a great time. They raved about it and that made me think they
were unaffected by who was there and what went down, which is all I can ask for. Is it true you’re going for full custody and that you think Katie is a “disgrace”? No. That is absolutely not true about the custody. And I accidentally liked a comment that said she was a disgrace. I literally touched it as I was scrolling on Instagram. There were hundreds of those types of comment on there. Why would I like just one comment? It was a total accident – I want to make that clear. And what’s the truth about the kids missing school because of the holiday?
They did miss their first day back, but the headteacher knew about it and they went back on the second day and everything was fine. Did you know about it?
I told Kate the date the kids were supposed to go back and I actually thought they’d be back on time, but she got mixed up with the dates and that’s why they came back late. It’s lucky Jett and Bunny are young enough that one missed day won’t affect them, but I really wanted them there on the first day back, of course. It is what it is, though. So many things are written about Katie. Kris has apparently chucked her clothes out and she’s moved Charles into her house. How do you protect your kids from this sort of story? Hopefully, by the time they’re old enough to read stuff like that, the news will be so old they just won’t see it. But we’ll have to address it if it does come up, whenever that may be. I’m not going to lie to my kids. I’ll have to be honest and tell them it’s not just Mummy – this sort of thing happens to people day in, day out across the country. We’re just unlucky that our lives get plastered across the newspapers. But as I said, I always knew that would be the case. Now we just deal with it the best way we can.
‘YOU SHOULDN’T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF YOU, BUT IF THEY’RE HORRIBLE, IT HURTS’