Katie Price has shared her honest reaction after watching her kids Junior and Princess break down in tears over her past drug use.
The former glamour model’s children cried as they discussed their “neglected” childhood in her new Sky documentary Katie Price: Nothing To Hide, which looked back at Price’s public breakdown in the late 2010s.
Price, 48, battled depression and a cocaine addiction after the collapse of her marriage to third husband Kieran Hayler.
Junior, 21, and Princess, 19, were just 13 and 10 at the time and recalled having to fend for themselves.
”That was probably the most difficult time of my life, our lives” Junior said, as Princess agreed: “I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't talk to mum about it because she wasn't there.”
Junior added: “And when she was there, she wasn't there, and we as siblings just kind of looked after each other. I remember me trying to figure out if food was microwavable to feed us for dinner.”
Princess recalled: “She'd give me a blanket and spray her perfume on it and that was my attachment to her. I used to go home and feel so lonely I would just cuddle the blanket and cry.'
Junior added: “I missed her so much. I was in her bed waiting for her to come back and I woke up 3.30am to loud noises. She came in the room, I'll never forget the look on her face. She was obviously on stuff and it scared me, I'd never seen my mum like this.
“That's when I started seeing the same pattern and her falling down the same hole. When she wasn't in the right head space she really wasn't and she wasn't being a mum. The mum that I knew from when I was a little boy, the amount of love she gave me was so immense, that's what I missed so much.
“Mum was on drugs and she couldn't look after us and that was the reality of it. Then I got fed up and clocked this was a very unhealthful environment and I needed to get out.”
He chose to live with his father Peter Andre aged 14 and said, “Thank God my dad was stable,” as it helped him “get his sanity back”.
Taking to her Instagram Story, Price shared an article about her kids’ emotional moment with the headline: “'She wasn't a mum': Junior and Princess break down in tears as they open up on Katie Price's darkest days: 'She couldn't look after us.’”
Price - who is married to controversial businessman Lee Andrews - captioned the post: “People will see my darkest days in my doc out tomorrow.”
Appearing on This Morning on Wednesday, she added that she “never knew” how much her children suffered during her breakdown.
She explained: '[It was] awful. They are amazing. And when they done the interview, they said: ‘Mum if we're going to do this, we're going to be brutally honest.’
“I never knew [what they went through] because obviously I wanted to kill myself and I did try.
“That period of my life, I don't think people realise when I said I had a breakdown, I wanted to die, I didn't want to be here.
“And so as much as I thought I was being a mum, I wasn't. I was vacant. For young kids like that wanting their mum. I was trying to be the perfect mum and obviously I wasn't. It kills me I put them through that.”
The model attempted suicide in 2021. She got sober after several rehab stints and has had therapy.
She went on to add: “Obviously we've come through the other end and they're like: ‘We've got our mum back’ but what confused them is that I was such an amazing mum, had the breakdown, didn't have the mum that they needed and wanted.
“I wasn't mentally there to be able to do it. And it kills me that I put them through that. The kids knowing I wasn't right. I put all my family through it. It's awful but it's real life. It can happen to anyone.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
