Katie Price today finally says sorry for the drug-fuelled car smash which has left her fighting for her health and career.
The former model and reality star’s statement – made through her family to the Sunday Mirror – will be seized upon as comfort by millions of fans who fear for her future.
It comes 26 days after her BMW flipped on its side on a country lane near her home in West Sussex.
As she was seen out for the first time since the crash, her family told us: “Kate acknowledges and takes full responsibility for her actions. She knows they were wrong and apologises. Kate is deeply loved and she loves her family.
“We are all there for her right now – and her children, who she loves dearly, are giving her strength as a mum.”
Cocaine was found in Katie’s wrecked car and she has been undergoing treatment at The Priory rehab clinic.
The crash was a new low after years of turmoil in which the 43-year-old former Celebrity Mum of the Year has squandered a £45million fortune.
While the family look forward to a brighter new chapter in Katie’s life, we can reveal a sensational sneak peek at her brilliant new book Harvey & Me.
In it Katie gives her former loves both barrels. With stinging criticism, she:
- Reveals her pain over ex husbands Peter Andre and Kieran Hayler's broken bonds with blind and autistic Harvey.
- Claims her son, 19, endured heart palpitations after not seeing Peter, who he had called “Dad” for six years.
- Slams some exes by saying she’s always been attracted to “low lives with no money who scrounge off me”.
- Takes a swipe at Harvey’s estranged dad Dwight Yorke, saying “any man can fill a pram”.
- Katie does not name her "Low life" exes and maintains Peter and Kieran have been excellent dads to the children she shares with them. But her anguish over Harvey's lack of father figure is clear.
The troubled star admitted drink driving following last month’s collision.
A court also heard she told police: “I took drugs, I should not be driving.”
She faces a sentencing hearing 10 days before Christmas.
Kieran, 34, recently told how he and Peter had struck up a friendship in the wake of the crash. But Katie claims the pair, while being good dads to their own kids, have not been there for her eldest son Harvey.
She says in her book: “Sadly, neither had any meaningful involvement with Harvey once our marriage ended. For almost the first six years of Harvey’s life, he thought Pete was his dad.
“He grew up with Junior and Princess and we were a proper family unit. After it all went t*ts up, Harvey just couldn’t understand why Pete wasn’t around.
“He’s a very smart boy and he’s obviously built that resentment against him. Harvey used to visit Pete most weekends, but because of his needs, he had to be accompanied by a nanny.
"Our marriage might have been over, but Pete was his daddy. For whatever reason, that didn’t work for Pete and it started to slowly stop.”
Harvey eventually stopped wanting to visit – and Katie says “even Pete’s name stresses him out”.
She continues: “I went to doctors at Maudsley Hospital to explain the situation and they did some tests. They put a watch on him to measure his heart rate and were asking about Pete. Just like I’d told them, he got agitated and his heart rate was sky-high.”
Katie praised Peter last year for "Stepping up" to visit harvey when he was in hospital with breathing problems but she now reveals they barely see one another.
Katie says Harvey also refuses to see Kieran because he knows he “doesn’t want anything to do with him”.
She feels distressed that ex-pop star Pete and Kieran haven’t shown more support for Harvey – saying they both once wanted to adopt him.
Katie married Pete, 48, in 2005 after romance in the I’m A Celeb jungle. They had two kids – Princess, 14, and Junior, 16 – but split in 2009. A year later she wed cage fighter Alex Reid, 46, but they split in 2012.
Her third marriage, in 2013, was to Kieran and they have children Jett, eight, and Bunny, seven.
In the book, Katie – now engaged to Carl Woods, 32 – lets rip at some exes, saying: “I’ve always gone for low-lives with no money who scrounge, use my name to be the next Mr Price and think they’re famous. Will I ever learn?”
She also claims Kieran is a “serial cheater” who “betrayed me in every single way” – but adds: “I can’t deny he’s a good dad to our children.”
Kieran claimed his infidelity with the family nanny was as a result of sex addiction, saying “It didn’t matter who it was, I just wanted a fix. If it wasn’t her it would have been someone else." He added: "However bad I feel, I know I have made Katie feel worse.”
Katie reflects on Harvey’s soccer star dad Dwight, 49, ceasing contact after his 10th birthday.
She says: “I always say any man can fill a pram, but it takes a real man to be a father.”
She even chillingly predicts catastrophe in her life, admitting she is relieved Harvey has proper care at a specialist college.
Katie writes: “It’s a real security blanket for me. If something dramatic happened in my life, and let’s be honest, that’s a common occurrence, I don’t have to be thinking, ‘What’s going to happen to Harvey? Who’s going to look after him’?”
She details some of the challenges Harvey faces – and how him smashing TVs is part of their daily routine.
Katie says: “I’ve found a shop that sells cheap TVs because it’s just easier to buy new ones.”
He once cost Katie £460 during a trip to get their nails done.
“A Justin Timberlake music video was playing,” she says.
“And Harvey simply didn’t like it, so he picked the nearest thing up, threw it at the TV and smashed it.”
Recalling an accident when Harvey ran himself a scalding hot bath and got in, she writes: “I felt so sorry for him. He didn’t deserve to be going through any of this. His screams still haunt me to this day. It was the worst thing in the world. The image of his poor little face will never leave me.”
Katie has enjoyed a string of career successes, including notching up sales of more than three million books.
But she has been declared bankrupt and in 2019 she confessed to cocaine use while battling stress.
Amidst the turmoil, her children bring Katie great joy. She captured the nation’s hearts with BBC documentary Harvey and Me.
And she says Mencap ambassador Harvey is a beacon of hope for her, with him achieving more than she could ever imagine.
She adds: “I’m so proud of the man he has become.”
Katie Price: Harvey & Me, published by Mirror Books, is on sale October 26. Get £5 off (RRP £20) with offer code FA9 from mirrorbooks.co.uk.
