Kieran Hayler has publicly apologised to his former stepdaughter Princess Andre, saying he regrets the affairs that ended his marriage to Katie Price after the teenager revealed the devastating impact it had on her childhood.
The 37-year-old, who was married to Price from 2013 until their divorce was finalised in 2021, said leaving the family home after their split was “one of the hardest things” he has ever done.
He had lived with Princess and her older brother Junior, Price’s children with Peter Andre, throughout his five-year relationship with the former glamour model.
Hayler, who shares two children — Jett, 12, and Bunny, 11 — with Price, admitted his infidelity with Price’s former best friend Jane Pountney and their ex-nanny Nikki Brown caused lasting damage.
Speaking to the MailOnline he said: “I’ll always feel sad that Princess had to witness such a horrible separation… I am as sorry as I can be. I would love to apologise and really know how she felt during that time when mine and Kate’s marriage broke down.”
He added: “Whenever any marriage breaks down and one parent has to leave the house, it rocks those children’s worlds… I went into my marriage wanting a happily ever after. No one goes into a marriage wanting it to break down.”
Hayler also said that while step-parent bonds naturally fade, he hoped Princess and Junior saw him as “respectful” towards their father and that he had been “the best stepfather I could have been.”
His comments come after the debut of Princess’s ITV2 reality series The Princess Diaries last weekend.
During the debut episode, the aspiring model and influencer recalled her mother’s heartbreak following the split, which led to battles with drug addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and an attempted suicide.
She told the camera: “I do wish, like, I could have had a more happier childhood. In the sense of like, I had so many things on my plate at a young age.
“My mum, obviously being heartbroken, didn’t deal with that in the best way. She went through a very, very dark time, which is understandable. It’s hard for me because I was around adulty things that kids should never see, and I think as well, when we needed our mum there, she wasn’t emotionally able to be there because she had so much of her own problems going on.”
Price has previously alleged on ITV’s Loose Women that she caught Hayler having a year-long affair with their nanny “in my house.”
In the years after the marriage ended, Price faced bankruptcy, a public breakdown and a suspended prison sentence in 2021 after flipping her car while under the influence of cocaine and alcohol.
