During her decades in the spotlight, Katie Price has become known for being unapologetic – but there is one thing the 48-year-old regrets.
In a new, warts-and-all documentary series, Price reflects on her career and personal life, from her rise as page three girl “Jordan” in the 1990s to the many (many) dramas and controversies.
One of Price’s most infamous tabloid scandals occurred in 2002, when the then-glamour model gave a tell-all interview on her secret romance with squeaky clean popstar Gareth Gates.
At the time, 17-year-old Gates was fresh from finishing in second place on Pop Idol, having won over thousands of fans with his squeaky clean image.
Meanwhile, Price was still best-known as her brash alter-ego “Jordan” rather than as the real Katie, and at 23 years old, was pregnant with her first child after a brief relationship with footballer Dwight Yorke.
The bombshell interview saw Price share intimate details of her relationship with the popstar, including the fact she was the first person Gates had slept with.
In the new documentary series, titled Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, the star says she gave the interview as “revenge” after Gates denied they’d ever been together.
Detailing how she was depicted by the press when their romance became public, Price says: “He was smelling of roses and I’m the villain.
“I would try and text and text, and I got nothing. I was left in the lurch and it really hurt me. I’m like, ‘you hurt me and I’ll get you back’. By telling the truth, like a revenge.”
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But selling the story to the press is something Price has come to regret.
“I’m sure it did affect him at the time,” she says. “I was young, I went into all the details. That’s the moment I wish I never did. I shouldn’t have gone into detail about it but I did.”
“If I could turn back time, I wish I’d never taken his virginity, for his sake,” she admits. “I wish he’d saved it for someone he loved and could have a relationship with.”
Producers of the no-holds-barred documentary also speak to Gates, who recalls feeling “betrayed” when Price sold the story. “I was quite shocked and hurt,” he says. “That impacted me hugely. Firstly because of the sense of betrayal, but it was more than that.
“I’d denied this to some of the closest people around me and I couldn’t really forgive myself for that.”
The pair’s romance was initially made public when a hidden camera snapped Price in the corridor of a hotel Gates was staying in.
And while the singer has long suspected that his ex tipped off the paparazzi, the documentary sees Gates learn – over 20 years later – that this was not the case. Visibly stunned and relieved, he replies: “I’m actually very pleased about that.”
Katie Price: Nothing to Hide airs on Sky on Sunday 8 July
