Home HealthHealth newsKatie Price’s mental health issues in full, from ADHD to suicide attempts- as new documentary about the former glamour model is released

Katie Price’s mental health issues in full, from ADHD to suicide attempts- as new documentary about the former glamour model is released

by David Jones

Katie Price’s new documentary has seen her mental health woes thrust back into the spotlight.  

The Sky documentary, Katie Price: Nothing to Hide, looks at the 48-year-old’s career from teenage glamour model to midlife serial bride – and some of the darkest moments of her life. 

One particular clip that has left fans emotional involves her children with Peter Andre, Princess, 19 and Junior, 21. 

The pair – the second and third of Katie’s five children with three different partners – reveal how they experienced childhood emotional neglect as their mother struggled with drug addiction. 

Junior also reflects on how his troubled mother’s attempt to take her own life was a ‘wake up call’ to get clean.   

He says: ‘I’m just relieved she’s still here. I think trying to end your life must wake you up. She helped herself and she got off the drugs.

‘I feel a duty of care to her, she’s such a special gem, she’s my mum and I’ve only got one.’ 

With this in mind, and as millions of fans watch the new show, this is what Katie has previously revealed about her mental health.  Please be aware that this includes references to both childhood and adult sexual assault, and suicide.

Katie Price’s mental health issues in full, from ADHD to suicide attempts- as new documentary about the former glamour model is released

Katie Price has been on the promotional trail ahead of the release of her new documentary 

‘Severe’ ADHD

In July 2023, Katie revealed she had been diagnosed with ADHD during a stay at private mental health hospital The Priory.

The former glamour model has since said she needs to be accompanied by an ‘appropriate adult’ when dealing with official paperwork because of her ‘severe ADHD’.

Speaking on an episode of the We Need To Talk podcast with Paul C Brunson, Katie said her mother Amy had raised concerns about her ‘erratic’ behaviour and encouraged her to be assessed.

After being diagnosed with ‘severe ADHD’, Katie said she was told she would need support when managing legal documents, including paperwork linked to her bankruptcy battle.

‘I have to have an appropriate adult with stuff, if it’s court and stuff – because I can’t concentrate,’ she said.

‘I can read, of course I can read, but I read it all and then get bored or start thinking about something else. I find it hard to focus on forms.’

Speaking about the period before her diagnosis, she said: ‘When I was getting letters during my breakdown, I didn’t really understand everything, so I would leave them to one side because I couldn’t take it all in.

‘You think, ‘Oh, I’ll do it later,’ and then you put it off, put it off, put it off, because you don’t really understand what is going on. That is how the bankruptcy situation got to that point.’

On her mother’s concerns, Katie said: ‘My mum kept saying to me, “Even when you’re sitting there, you’re always moving around. You’re quite erratic and impulsive.”

‘I said, “I don’t know, Mum, this is just me.” And she said, “There’s something not right about your brain.”‘

She previously revealed that taking cocaine ‘calmed her’ mind – which commonly happens in people who have ADHD. 

Body dysmorphia 

During her promotional tour for Nothing To Hide, Katie made the sad revelation that she doesn’t have mirrors at home. 

She told Josh Smith on his Great Chat Show: ‘I definitely think I’ve got body dysmorphia. I hate what I see.

‘I don’t have mirrors in my house, I’ve got one mirror, just one.

‘I definitely think I’ve got body dysmorphia now, and I was in denial before. If anyone says I was stunning, I don’t think I’ve ever been stunning, I still don’t like what I look like, I hate it.

‘It’s really weird, especially seeing all the stuff I’ve achieved. I know it’s not normal, I know it’s not normal, but I just hate the way I look. Sad, isn’t it?’

Katie’s surgeries over the years have included around 17 breast surgeries, multiple facelifts, eyelid and brow lifts, a rhinoplasty, and various corrective surgeries for scar tissue and migrated fillers.

Her mum Amy previously told Vanessa Feltz on her TalkTV show that she has believed she has body dysmorphia for a long time – and her countless plastic surgeries come from a place of sadness and self loathing.

When Vanessa asked her for her feelings on Katie’s surgeries, Amy said: ‘I absolutely hate it and she knows it.

Katie pictured in 2007

Katie pictured in 2007 

‘I think she, and I got her to admit it the other day, “you’ve got body dysmorphia”. I don’t know what it is.

‘You know you look all right but why do you think you need to tweak this, tweak that or have a tattoo or change her hair?’

Amy went on to detail how she believes Katie’s desire to have surgery stems from moments of ‘upset’ or ‘hurt’.

She went on: ‘I think when there’s moments of upset or she’s not feeling right or she needs comfort in a way or hurt that’s what she does because she thinks she’s in control of herself.’

2018 suicide attempt

Katie has previously spoken about attempting suicide after suffering from ‘anxiety, depression and major trauma’ following a horrific 2018 carjacking in South Africa.

She said she hit rock bottom after being raped at gunpoint during the ordeal and later tried to hang herself. After passing out, she said she saw her children’s faces and realised she ‘never wanted it to happen again’.

Speaking in the Channel 4 documentary Katie Price: Trauma and Me, which aired on World Mental Health Day in 2022, Katie said: ‘I’ve got anxiety, depression and major trauma and I tried to kill myself. 

‘I tried to hang myself. I knocked myself out. I had black eyes, bruises around my neck. I didn’t want to be here.

‘But all I saw was the kids’ faces and I don’t ever want that to happen again.

‘It was a nightmare. I didn’t give a s**t if I lived or died. I’ve been struggling with my mental health for some time.’

Horror car crash… or another suicide bid?

In September 2021, Katie was arrested for drink–driving after flipping her uninsured BMW X5 on its side on a country lane near her home in West Sussex.

She later admitted drink–driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance, and immediately checked into The Priory following the arrest.

Trauma and Me was filmed in the months after the crash, with Katie admitting the incident finally made her realise she needed help.

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She said: ‘Getting in the car was a terrible mistake I’m so sorry for. That was a prime example of me having been triggered and not knowing how to handle it — an example of me spiralling out of control because I needed help.’

After attending court, Katie told the camera: ‘I’ve decided to see a therapist every week for the rest of my life. Mental health is cruel, people don’t understand it, you can’t see it. I need help.’

Her mother Amy added: ‘Katie asked why she was still alive, so I’m not sure if she was attempting suicide. It was a cry for help. As a mum it’s devastating, you never want to see your child go through this.’

Lee, the man who found Katie in the flipped car, said: ‘Katie was hysterical. She told me she didn’t want to be here, ‘I’ve had enough.’ I gave her a cuddle and reassured her.’

Katie later said: ‘The way I was, I didn’t care if I died. A police officer took a photo of my car and put it on Twitter.’

A stint in The Priory

After appearing in court following her drink–driving charge, Katie stayed at The Priory to receive treatment for post–traumatic stress disorder, which she says is linked to the 2018 rape.

She has repeatedly insisted her stays at the private mental health hospital were not for addiction, but for trauma rehabilitation and much-needed respite and support.

Katie said: ‘I have had my eyes opened about a lot. When you go in The Priory, people assume that it must be for drink or drugs.

‘I have never ever been in The Priory for drink, drugs or addiction. I have been in The Priory for trauma rehabilitation for PTSD.’

She added: ‘Because of what people believe, it affects me. There is a stigma that if you go in The Priory, you are a wrong ‘un, but that’s not true.

‘I think people who go in there are brave because they are facing their demons and whatever their problems are to make themselves a better person.

‘Mental health, it doesn’t matter how big or how small that may seem. If it’s big to someone, then it’s big to them. It’s just different. Anything can happen.’

In the Channel 4 documentary, Katie said therapy had helped her understand her past and recognise what triggers her.

She said: ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about my mental health. I thought I had to manage it on my own and after years of neglect I had a mental breakdown in 2018 and was diagnosed with post–traumatic stress disorder.

‘I hit severe depression a couple of years ago, depression on top of PTSD. I was suicidal, didn’t want to be here. I tried to kill myself. I knocked myself out and had black eyes. I had bruises around my neck. I woke up. I didn’t want to be here.

Katie with her current husband, Lee Andrews

Katie with her current husband, Lee Andrews

‘It goes far back as well. I got raped in a park when I was seven.’

On the up in 2023

Speaking on Mark Dolan Tonight on GB News in January 2023, Katie said she was having therapy once a week and that the darkest days of her life were behind her.

She said: ‘What I want from the future is to definitely make a comeback and prove to people I can, because I’ve been there, and I’ve told my story.

‘Literally, I hit rock bottom. It was that bad that I tried to commit suicide, but I’ve come up from that. You can get out of that rut. If I can do it, you can do it.’

Months later, she praised the support she had received from mental health professionals and her family.

Writing on Instagram Stories, she said: ‘I’m just sticking to being strong and sticking to therapists’ advice, and focusing on the future knowing I’ve been near death in causing my own suicide actions that thankfully I survived and realised I have a future and life.

‘I can only thank the #priory #myconsultandtherapist Alan, family, close friends and children.’

Therapy has helped

Katie, has continued to speak openly about therapy and admits that she wishes she had sought help sooner.

She previously said: ‘I might be 44 now and have therapy each week, but I wish I would have done this years ago. It would have stopped a lot of things that I might have said or reacted to.

‘I have to accept [certain situations] and not bite back to anything anymore.

‘It’s hard for me to say because I don’t want to sound bitter and I am not bitter. I speak to my therapist now about my situations.

‘I don’t go on Instagram anymore and say, ‘Well this is wrong.’ It crosses my mind and then I count down, and by the time I am at zero, I am just like, ‘Oh forget it.’

‘I feel like I have to protect myself. I don’t put anything on Instagram anymore. I don’t need to justify myself anymore. I don’t owe anything to anyone.

‘I feel better and I feel stronger for that. I don’t need to rectify or prove anything to anyone. I know the truth. I have grown up.’

For confidential help and support call Samaritans free on 116 123. 

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