KATIE PRICE and Peter Andre have long held the cursed title of showbiz’s most toxic marriage – but until now, the venom was only directed one way.
That all changed yesterday when the Insania hitmaker broke his 16-year silence and blew Katie’s secrets wide open — with their teen daughter Princess at the heart of their feud.
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In a fascinating Instagram post, the mild-mannered pop star, 52, spat: “For sixteen years I have stayed silent in the face of repeated lies from my ex-wife and her family, out of respect for my children and loved ones, but staying silence (sic) has been incredibly frustrating. That ends today.”
Katie, it would seem, has finally pushed the Mysterious Girl singer’s buttons one too many times.
The cold war between the two had been in place since their divorce in 2009, with relations remaining frostily cordial, bar the former glamour model’s occasional jibes.
But the peace came to an end earlier this month when we revealed Katie, 47, had accused Princess’s team of shutting her out of her daughter’s life ahead of the 18-year-old launching her debut reality series.
Confirming The Sun’s expose, Katie ranted on a podcast: “I’m not allowed and I’m not welcome. They think I am trash, basically.”
This week she added: “Although I’m not in the show, she speaks about me all the time which is really sweet. But why wouldn’t she — because she lives with me.
“The kids have never lived just with Pete. We’ve shared the kids.”
That was too much for Nineties chart star Peter, who also shares son Junior, 20, with Katie.
Posting his blistering riposte on Thursday night, he explained: “The latest comments about my children’s welfare and living arrangements compel me to set the record straight.
“For well-documented reasons, and for their safety, Junior and Princess came into my care in 2018 and remained with me until they reached adulthood.
‘Fake family man’
Princess Andre breaks silence on Peter and Katie’s bitter feud after his blistering statement
“In 2019, the family courts issued a legally binding order to enforce this arrangement. I have never made this public before out of respect for my children.”
That secret was long-known among Fleet Street journalists — and now the cat is out of the bag.
Many feel that Pete would have held his tongue for years, given the traumatic circumstances behind the court order.
While filming a reality series in South Africa in 2018, six men held Katie, Princess and Junior at gunpoint during a carjacking before raping the mum-of-five.
The former I’m A Celebrity star has since told how she attempted suicide in the wake of her horrific ordeal.
The courts then placed Junior and Princess, then 13 and 10, into Peter’s care for their own wellbeing.
Pete added in his bombshell social media post: “In 2011 and 2015, publicly documented court cases found my ex-wife had made false claims.
“She was ordered to pay substantial damages and legal costs, and to apologise, to me and my management.
“The same falsehoods are being repeated today.”
He concluded: “Unfortunately, there are many more lies and baseless accusations that I have yet to address. Those will be dealt with in the coming months.”
Pete has spent a decade letting his lawyers do the talking, slapping Katie with countless complaints after defaming him in the press.
She was forced to issue a public apology in 2011 after accusing Peter of cheating on her with their former manager, Claire Powell, who had since decamped to Team Pete.
Two years later, Katie slammed her ex-husband again, tweeting that he was a “fake family man” who didn’t let her see their kids over Christmas and no longer kept in touch with her eldest son, Harvey, who is autistic and has a rare genetic disorder.
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But Peter still refused to comment, even though he has regularly been in the public eye.
His wedding to second wife Emily was covered in OK! Magazine in 2015, and he has since fronted his own reality TV shows alongside her (although they keep their three children, Amelia, 11, Theo, eight, and Arabella, one, out of the public eye).
So why has Pete piped up now?
A source told The Sun: “He had to speak out now because things had just become unbearable.
“The fact is, Katie said on her podcast that Princess lived with her and that’s just not the case. It’s been a really difficult and upsetting time for the family. Pete feels she is goading him by constantly speaking about him and none of it is true.
“Pete would like nothing more than for Katie to never speak about him publicly again but she won’t stop.
He feels like she is goading him. Pete would like nothing more than for Katie to never ever speak about him in public again but she won’t stop
Sun source
“He’s kept a dignified silence, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns legal as she’s gone too far. He just wants a harmonious life for his family.”
A rep for Pete told us: “Peter has issued his statement as he is not prepared for this to go on any longer and it’s affecting his family.”
Normally outspoken Katie did not respond to her ex’s claims — instead leaving the job to her sister, Sophie, who is also her manager.
She said in a statement: “Kate is in a much better and clear headspace and is at peace with the situation
“This was in the past and she doesn’t feel the need to bring up tit for tat comments, but more importantly she’s dealing with this the right way and it’s now in her lawyers’ hands.
“Kate will no longer be gaslighted and bullied as she once was.”
Kate is in a much better and clear headspace and is at peace with the situation
Sophie Price
The response echoes Katie’s previous plea for peace.
She said on the podcast where she made the claim about Princess’s living arrangements: “There’s no reason why both parents just can’t be there to support her.
“For the sake of the children, there’s room for everyone to support your kids.”
When I interviewed Katie last month to discuss her upcoming Evening With tour alongside best pal Kerry Katona, she told me she was the healthiest and happiest she has been for years.
Certainly, her uncharacteristically balanced response seems like it is from a whole new Katie.
But is that really the true picture?
She also shared a cryptic post on Instagram, cuddling her Sphynx cat with the caption: “They don’t judge.”
Peter’s controversial manager Claire Powell, who now looks after Princess and once clashed with Katie, weighed in on social media, too.
‘I love my mum and dad’
With Pete clearly in mind, she wrote: “The most dangerous anger comes from someone with a good heart. They hold it in, stay calm, until one day, they can’t any more.”
All what I want to do, is just whatever my daughter does, and it’s the same with Junior, I don’t care if I’m in the background
Katie Price
Katie — formerly known as Page 3 girl Jordan — and Peter were forged in the fire of reality TV, first falling in love on camera in the I’m A Celebrity jungle in 2004.
They went on to make a string of fly-on-the-wall shows, beginning with When Jordan Met Peter in 2004 and including Jordan & Peter: Marriage and Mayhem, then the nine-series run of Katie & Peter.
Until their acrimonious split in 2009, their entire marriage played out in the public eye.
So it seemed inevitable that their kids might also go on to make reality TV shows of their own.
Princess has taken up the baton with ITV2 series The Princess Diaries, in which the model and influencer introduces fans to her world.
Which brings us to the gnarly issue of whether former reality TV queen Katie has been trying to steal her girl’s thunder.
Team Andre says: “It’s almost like Katie wanted to overshadow Princess’s show. Normally, you’d think a parent would step back and let their child enjoy their moment in the spotlight but Katie couldn’t do that.”
But Katie has insisted: “I don’t need to raise my profile by being on Princess’s show. I do enough stuff. All what I want to do is just whatever my daughter does.
“It’s the same with Junior. I don’t care if I’m in the background, but I want to watch her do her photo shoots, I wanna watch her do her signings, because that’s what I did and my mum used to come along and support.
“And I just wanna be there with her because I now feel that I’ve missed out on so much.”
I want to watch her do her photo shoots, I wanna watch her do her signings, because that’s what I did and my mum used to come along and support.
Katie Price
Perhaps the only voice that should matter is that of Princess, who has been surprisingly quiet.
Clearly a sweet, well-mannered kid, she came across as shy when I met her last week at a launch event for her series, deferring to her doting big brother Junior.
Yesterday, though, she found her voice and added her own take on her parents’ slanging match.
During a fan Q&A on Snapchat, one fan asked: “Does it affect you even now when your mum and dad don’t get on?” Princess responded with a short video message, saying: “To be honest, it doesn’t affect me.
“At the end of the day, they broke up when I was two years old so I don’t even have any memory of them being together.”
Captioning the clip, Princess wrote: “I love my mum and dad and that’s all that matters.”
The least surprising thing of all is that Britain’s first reality TV family is once again exploding in full view of the public.
The Price-Andre dynasty rose and fell in front of the cameras — and now it’s time for their reckoning.
Katie Price’s relationship history
We take a look back at the highs and lows of Katie Price’s relationship history.
1996-1998: Katie got engaged to Gladiators star Warren Furman – aka Ace – with a £3,000 ring. But their relationship didn’t make it as far as ‘I do’.
1998-2000: Katie described Dane Bowers as ‘the love of her life’ but she broke up with the singer when he allegedly cheated on her.
2001: Footballer Dwight Yorke is the father of Katie’s eldest child Harvey. He has had very little to do with Harvey throughout his life.
2002: Rebounding from Dwight, Katie famously had one night of passion with Pop Idol star Gareth Gates, allegedly taking his virginity.
2002-2004: Katie was dating Scott Sullivan when she entered the jungle for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!. He threatened to “punch Peter’s lights out” when chemistry blossomed between her and Peter Andre.
2004-2009: The jungle romance resulted in Katie marrying Aussie pop star Peter. They had two kids, Junior and Princess, before their bitter split in 2009.
2010-2011: Fresh from her break-up with Peter, Katie enjoyed a whirlwind relationship and marriage with cage fighter Alex Reid. They split 20 months after their Las Vegas wedding.
2011: Katie briefly dated model Danny Cipriani… but it ended as quickly as it begun.
2011-2012: They didn’t speak the same language, but Katie got engaged to Argentinian model Leandro Penna in 2011. He later fled home to South America.
2012-2018: Wedding bells rang once more after Katie met Kieran Hayler in 2013. They had two kids together, Jett and Bunny, before their break-up and divorce.
2018-2019: Katie moved on quickly with Kris Boyson. They had an on-off romance for one year and even got engaged. They split for good in 2019.
2019: Katie was linked to Charles Drury during her on-off relationship with Kris. Charles, who also dated Lauren Goodger, has always denied being in “official relationship” with her.
2020-2023: Car salesman Carl Woods took a shining to Katie in 2020. Their relationship was up and down for three years. They broke up for a final time last year.
2024-present: After weeks of rumours, Katie confirmed her relationship with Married At First Sight star JJ Slater in February this year.
