Katie Price shocked fans when she revealed she had married her fourth husband after knowing him for just a mumber of days, but why does she need a man to feel validation, asks Olivia Buxton
16:05, 12 Mar 2026Updated 10:04, 14 Mar 2026
Why does Katie Price always need a man to feel validated? asks Olivia Buxton(Image: Getty Images)
When Katie Price married businessman Lee Andrews in Dubai just ten days after they first met, the speed of their romance shocked even those used to her dramatic love life.
The ceremony — her fourth marriage — took place at the Royal Mirage, a five-star hotel on the famous Palm Jumeirah island, once again thrusting the former glamour model into the spotlight. Later, it emerged that her husband was businessman Lee Andrews, whom Price has described as her “real-life Richard Gere”.
But for many observers, the real surprise was not the wedding itself, but the familiar pattern it appeared to follow. For three decades, Price — once known simply as “Jordan” — has lived much of her life in the public eye, with a string of intense romances, break-ups and reconciliations along the way.
Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.
Why does Katie Price always need a man to be validated?(Image: Getty Images)
Yet behind the drama, many believe there is a deeper story driving Price’s turbulent love life — one rooted in childhood trauma and a lifelong search for stability and affection. The latest marriage shocked not only fans but also her children, Junior and Princess Andre, who learned of the engagement via a family WhatsApp message. Price has since dismissed their concerns, insisting that her life has never followed a conventional path.
“Of course, my family are going to worry; I wouldn’t expect anything different,” she said. “They love me, and they’ve seen me go through so much heartache and the most horrific times. So I don’t blame them for being p***ed off and angry. But I’m not a kid any more. I am 47, I can make my own choices, and I will. They have to give me that chance to go and find out for myself.”
The surprise nuptials came just weeks after Price split from reality star JJ Slater in early January after two years together. Price later said she did not want to stay in a relationship that wasn’t right — something she felt she had done in the past.
“I love the guy, but I’m not in love with him,” she explained on her podcast, adding the relationship had begun to feel more like a friendship. Within days, she had moved on, announcing her new engagement and leaving followers in shock. To understand why her relationships so often unfold at such speed, many observers point to the experiences that shaped her long before fame.
Katie married her latest husband after knowing him for several days(Image: wesleeeandrew/Instagram)
Katie has been open about falling in love quickly(Image: Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)
Born Katrina Amy Alexandra Alexis Infield in Brighton in 1978, Price was just four years old when her parents separated after her biological father, Ray Infield, had numerous affairs. Her mother later married Paul Price, whose surname Katie adopted – she still calls him dad to this day. Although she has often described her childhood as happy — particularly her love of horses — she has also said physical affection was largely absent.
“I’ve got no memory of me cuddling my real dad. No memory at all,” she told life coach and behavioural expert Paul C. Brunson on his ‘We Need To Talk’ podcast last year.
“And then with Paul, I can’t even remember any times Paul cuddling me either. But this is the thing — I’m such a cuddly, loving person. I suppose with my horses I would give it to them and I would get something back from them… like my love.” Her childhood was also marked by trauma. Price has spoken publicly about being sexually assaulted in her local park when she was seven years old.
Katie previously dated JJ Slater of Married At First Sight UK fame(Image: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“Well, when I was seven basically, a man did something to me in a bush, and I remember all the police being called,” she recalled. They took all our underwear and everything. And he was basically saying to us, ‘If you let me do this to you, I’ll go and get you an ice cream.’ I can still remember his face now… So that was my first, I suppose, traumatic thing with a man. And I was seven years old.” Another troubling experience followed when she began modelling as a teenager.
At 13, Price attended a casting where a photographer invited her to his house for a photoshoot and repeatedly offered her a “pineapple milkshake”. “But I didn’t want it. I didn’t like it. So I actually never drank it,” she said. Child protection officers later arrived at the property and arrested the photographer, who was using multiple identities and had drugged young girls.
Her early experiences shaped how she approached relationships. Price has said that while she had crushes at school, she was “petrified” of kissing boys and described herself as “frigid.”
Price’s first serious relationship was when she was just 15(Image: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty I)
Her first serious relationship came when she was just 15 — with a man ten years older who had recently been released from prison. “I was 15, and he was 25,” she told Brunson on his podcast. “My mum went nuts about it, but I denied it to her and kept seeing him.”
Looking back, she accepts that her mother was trying to shield her. “Now I realise she wasn’t stopping me — she was protecting me,” Price said. The relationship soon became volatile. “He was really jealous,” she said. “If we were in a petrol station, he’d ask if I was looking at other men, so I’d just stare straight ahead.” On several occasions, she claimed, his behaviour became extreme.
“My mum had to pick me up a few times because he’d cut all my clothes off and I’d be standing there naked,” she said. “Oh my God, it took ages to get out of that relationship.” Psychological therapist and television commentator Emma Kenny says early experiences like these can have a profound impact on how people approach relationships later in life.”
“Childhood trauma fundamentally shapes the way a person learns to form attachments,” she explains. “When a child experiences abuse, abandonment or instability, their sense of safety in the world can be fractured very early on. As adults, they may unconsciously search for reassurance through relationships, often seeking partners who provide the emotional security they felt was missing in childhood.
She was previously engaged to Gladiators star, Ace
“This isn’t a conscious choice. It’s the brain attempting to recreate familiarity and connection, even when those patterns ultimately prove unhealthy.” Price herself has often linked her difficult early experiences to the turbulent relationships that followed. “My thing that’s always been wrong in my life is men… they’ve always let me down,” she once admitted.
Price’s path to fame began when she was still a teenager growing up in Brighton. Her life changed dramatically on 20 September 1996 when, aged 18, she appeared topless on Page 3 under the name “Jordan”, launching a modelling career that quickly made her one of Britain’s most recognisable glamour models.
As her fame skyrocketed, she sparked headlines with one high-profile romance after another. Her first was with Warren Furman, known to millions as “Ace” on Gladiators. They became engaged in the late 1990s but split after around 18 months. In 2002, she welcomed her eldest son, Harvey, with footballer Dwight Yorke. Harvey was born blind and later diagnosed with autism and Prader-Willi syndrome. Around the same time, she became engaged to boyband singer Dane Bowers between 1998 and 2000, though the relationship ended after public rows. She was also engaged to Scott Sullivan in the early 2000s.
Her most famous relationship was her marriage to Peter Andre(Image: Getty Images)
Price’s most famous relationship began in 2004 when she met singer Peter Andre on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Their jungle romance captivated the public, and they married in a lavish ceremony in 2005, welcoming two children — Junior and Princess. But their marriage collapsed dramatically in 2009, becoming one of the most talked-about celebrity breakups of the decade. Price married cage fighter Alex Reid in 2010, though the relationship lasted less than a year.
In 2013, she married Kieran Hayler in the Bahamas, before separating in 2018 after Hayler admitted to cheating on her multiple times, including with the family nanny. Their divorce was finalised in 2021. Over the years, Price has been engaged eight times and recently married for the fourth time. Despite telling Brunson on his podcast last May that she would be happy if she were single, it seems she cannot resist being with a man.
Psychological therapist Emma Kenny says patterns like these can sometimes reflect deeper emotional drivers rooted in earlier life experiences. “Katie’s history of intense, fast-moving relationships is something we often see in people who struggle with what therapists sometimes describe as love addiction,” she explains. “In those cases, the emotional high of falling in love can become a powerful form of validation and escape.
Katie’s love life is the most familiar storyline of her life(Image: Getty Images)
“When the relationship begins to settle, or conflict emerges, that same intensity can quickly flip into disappointment or instability. It isn’t necessarily about the partners themselves — it’s often about an underlying need for emotional reassurance that the relationship alone can’t fully provide.” Price’s struggles have not been limited to relationships. Over the years, she has faced legal trouble, addiction battles and mental health challenges, and has spoken openly about receiving treatment for anxiety and stress at the Priory. In her memoir This Is Me, she revealed she had been diagnosed with ADHD later in life — something she said helped explain years of impulsive behaviour.
She has also spoken about struggles with her body image and self-esteem, admitting in interviews and on her podcast that she can be her own harshest critic. In recent months, she has sparked fresh concern with her dramatic weight loss, confessing that she is eating normally but still losing weight and has sought medical tests to find out why her frame has become so gaunt.
Her daughter, Princess Andre, is also deeply worried, remarking that her mother’s legs are so thin they “might snap.’ Yet even amid personal setbacks, Price has shown a remarkable ability to reinvent herself, launching businesses and writing books, keeping her career firmly in the public eye for three decades.
However, it is her personal life that continues to make headlines. Since tying the knot in Dubai, Price and Andrews have spent much of their time in the United Arab Emirates, though the relationship has already sparked controversy. Andrews has previously served time in prison and faced accusations from his former girlfriend and other women that he scammed them out of money — allegations that emerged shortly after the couple’s whirlwind wedding.
Price has publicly defended her husband. “I can reassure everyone at home that I haven’t gone for a con man,” she said. “I haven’t gone for a scammer. There was no love bombing.” Speaking recently on her podcast, The Katie Price Show, Price joked that she “traumatises f*****g everyone” after revealing she left her mother Amy in tears during a hospital visit over her recent nuptials. Later in the episode, the conversation turned to relationships — and how quickly people declare their feelings.
Discussing the idea of someone saying “love you” after a first date, Price dismissed the notion outright. “Get lost,” she said — before acknowledging her own tendency to move fast in romance, admitting she had once married after just “two-three weeks”.
And after three decades in the spotlight, that headlong rush into love remains perhaps the most familiar storyline of all in the ever-dramatic life of Katie Price.
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
