Never Underestimate the Pricey: Part One

Katie Price has always fascinated the media. I got to know her as a writer. Here's a deep dive on the Pricey years! A moment in time.

I've always loved writing about celebrities that have a real talent. You know, singing, dancing, acting or presenting. An actual talent and skill for doing something.

But it wasn’t always easy considering the time I was at the papers and magazines. In fact, I was there just as everything changed. Reality TV exploded, social media ruined everything, and the girl next door became one of the biggest entities in celebrity.

A girl next door could become front page news simply by going to a nightclub in a tiny outfit, getting pissed and shagging a footballer.

This brings me rather nicely onto the subject of Katie Price.

Now, Katie may have started off as a page three girl with a penchant for the nightclub Chinawhite and footballers but throughout the years she flourished the mum-of-five managed to amass (and lose) a £40 million fortune. By any standards, that’s pretty impressive.

You could say Katie’s one of the most contrived and calculated celebrities of the last 25 years. She set up pictures, sold the pictures, knew what the papers wanted and decided to just have a bit of fun with it. She played the media but let’s not forget - she isn’t a bimbo by a long shot. She knew how to work the media and perfectly executed her publicity plans. Katie made it look fun and very simple and she had a very large brand to manage - clothing, equestrian gear, jewellery, kids clothing, books and, er, music. The list was endless and throughout getting to know her she would often use the term: “Never underestimate the Pricey.”

Even to this day Katie still commands attention. Possibly because of the endless love life dramas, plastic surgery procedures and bankruptcy court appearances. The media and the public remain fascinated with her.

Katie is proof you don't need very much raw talent to get very far as a celebrity. You just need to know how to play the game and for that she deserves a medal. I’ve always considered her the UK’s version of Kim Kardashian. A blueprint, if you will. When you break the two women down, they’re incredibly similar. Both super contrived, controlled and business-minded. In fact, Katie might have been a good little trial run for what Momager Kris Jenner did with those darn Kardashian girls.

She road tested every scenario way before the likes of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe tried it all out. Sex tape – TICK. Brand build – TICK. Family girl – TICK. Party girl – TICK. Reality show – TICK. Divorce – TICK. Huge media attention and the ability to sell products and papers – TICK. As celebrities, they really are cut from the same cloth.

We should bow down - she's done bloody well. She was pulling in HUGE cash at one point – the rights to her nuptials with Peter Andre alone sold for £1 million. She continually made sure competitors were left at the wayside. So, allow me to tell you about my time with Katie and explain across a couple of newsletters why you can never underestimate the Pricey.

The first time I met Katie was shortly after I joined the Daily Mirror in 2001 and she was a guest alongside her then boy toy Dane Bowers at the Brit Awards in London.

She generally didn’t like journos on the showbiz beat. We would have to follow her around all night. It was very stalky so I’m not surprised she wasn’t into writers like me on the showbiz beat. She was in a grumpy mood that night. Drag queen make up, bedraggled hair extensions and she ended up stamping on my colleague Suzanne Kerins' foot with her stripper heels to get us to leave her alone. Quite right. This wasn't the best start to our friendship. I say friendship. I think we were friends of some sort by the end. I looked out for her, and I’d say we had mutual respect for each other.

Back in the old days of the early 2000s Jordan became front page news after announcing she was pregnant with footballer Dwight Yorke and eventually had his child, Harvey.

Back then Jordan was represented by Dave Reed – a party hopping PR guy and manager – who represented a handful of glamour girls on the London scene. Jordan was a big enough entity to get a few grand from turning up to a nightclub PA and she would regularly be linked to different famous men across the industry. If they were in the same nightclub or restaurant then Jordan supposedly copped off with them. It was a down-market game but at that point she was a down-market girl. Dave managed to get Jordan's name out there and in all the media purely off of the fact that she went to a few nightclubs and slept with a few famous people. As writers we lapped it up and she sold newspapers and magazines. There wasn’t much career development, master plan or big future plan for her. She was the UK's biggest glamour model and obviously all her various breast enhancement surgeries kept us all talking.

All that changed when Dave got her signed up to the third series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here in 2004.

It was risky move for Dave and Katie. She wasn't a favourite with women at all. It's probably fair to say before the show began Katie - and her naughty alias Jordan – was terrifying for women. Girls didn't want to dress like her, look like her or want to be her friend. Her image was going to be tested to the brink, and it was going to be career suicide or career turnaround. Appearing on a television programme where you're tested to your limits with hunger, torturous tasks and eating all manner of critters whilst being filmed 24/7 could have easily become a huge PR disaster.

But instead of it all going wrong we got to see that Katie wasn't the sort of girl to wimp out of anything and the public quickly got on board. In fact, after the show aired, they bloody loved her.

The show highlighted her great dry sense of humour (something I’ve always LOVED) and she was ballsy as hell. On the very first trial, named Fill Your Face, Katie managed to swallow all the gross insects and animal body parts and win a full set of stars for camp. She was like Wonderwoman in the viewing public's eyes and could do no wrong.

But the real turning point was the fact she went into camp and fell in love with pop singer Peter Andre. This union very quickly became HUGE news in the celebrity world. It provided a comeback and a half for the Mysterious Girl singer and introduced the UK public to Katie Price, formerly known as Jordan.

They complimented each other perfectly and their attraction towards each other looked genuine. We were captivated.

Obviously, the papers went absolutely mad for the union of pop's former glory boy and the London party queen and viewers got to see the romance blossoming live on telly. Another thing worth noting is the fact that TV show wasn't half as contrived as it is nowadays. People entering the show now know that it can revive a career and present commercial opportunities. But back then it was far more real.

As a journalist, it was amazing to see what was going on behind the scenes too. Dave Reed thought he was laughing all the way to the bank but little did he know Katie was going to look at her management options the second she stepped foot out of the jungle.

Peter's manager and PR Claire Powell, who ran CAN Associates and had worked with Peter for years beforehand, made sure everything was planned so she could swoop in when Katie stepped foot out of the jungle in 5^th place and sign her up to her agency.

Claire was great at selling every shred of a client's private life, ensuring she was in control and turning them into a ‘real’ star. It was continually the same pattern for the majority of her clients, and I think she still does it to this very day. Being with Claire also meant you would end up being turned into one of Richard Desmond and OK magazine's performing monkeys.

The minute she was out the jungle, Katie ditched Dave Reed and signed with CAN Associates and Claire. Over the next few weeks, Katie pushed full steam ahead with CAN. The OK magazine covers were endless with them professing their love for each other, they quickly announced they had signed a reality show deal with ITV2 to follow their life after the jungle and book deals followed. They were raking it in, and all questions of morality and integrity were dropped at the sidelines. It was cashing in time.

I still love the fact each and every contract the pair did as a couple were made individually (even after they wed) with Katie admitting recently on Louis Theroux’s podcast that she was “worth more” than Peter. Ah, the fickle world of celebrity love, eh.

By 2004 when I was celebrity editor at London, I realised it would be a good idea to get Katie back into the men's market arena. After all, she was one of the glamour model industry's biggest stars and she was hot news nowadays. Whatever she said was quickly followed up in the press and that generally meant more people would talk about Loaded and in turn that would hopefully equate to big sales. And in my role as Celebrity Editor that was the most important thing I had to consider.

But I had more than a few hurdles to overcome when it came to Claire and the CAN machine. The second Jordan left the jungle I would speak to Claire and the conversation would go like this.

“Jordan's over,” Claire would begin. “It's time for Katie Price to be developed into a brand. No smutty shoots, no partying, no falling out of clubs – she means business now Dean.

“She doesn't want to be seen as a glamour model. She's got female fans now and doesn't need to be doing those sort of shoots.”

Righty ho, I thought. And came up with a cunning plan. Loaded were just about to celebrate their 10^th anniversary and throw a bit party to mark the occasion in London. I decided it would be a great idea to get Katie as the 'Cover Girl of the Decade' in a brand-new shoot straight out from the jungle.

But it was going to cost me. After much wrangling we agreed on a fee of £20,000 to work with Katie on the cover and I began contract negotiations with Claire.

As a manager, Claire was ferocious. Over the years I've worked with her on various projects, and it's always done on Claire's terms. It was difficult to say the least. You would always find working with her meant you had to sign hugely detailed contracts about privacy, copy approval, picture approval and the general feel of an article. She was a control freak and it became extremely tedious to deal with her. Broadsheet journalists wouldn’t have put up with the level of control – but I was tabloid through and through. I had little choice.

Worth noting, I wouldn't ever have to sign NDA-style contracts to do interviews with some of the biggest stars on the globe. But with Katie I had too. If you didn't sign the contract then you didn't get her. It was as simple as that.

One I’d signed my life away, Katie and I got on like a house on fire. She’s very funny. Incredibly direct, knows what she wants, understands the celebrity game and made sure it was a riot of unpredictable fun.

At the same time, she was a fucking nightmare to shoot with.

Having been a glamour model for so many years she knew how things worked and, in her opinion, she knew when the photographer had the shot. “Right, you've got the fucking shot,” she'd announce, grab her bra and disappear from set.

You'd literally have to force her back into place at times and beg her to just chill out and let you try for a better cover option.

On the Cover Girl of the Decade shoot, which took place in a penthouse over-looking the Houses of Parliament, we spent four hours waiting patiently while her then best friend at the time, Gary Cockerill, did her hair and make-up. She's always been notorious for taking an age to get ready for a shoot. All the crew sat watching the clock and panicking that we didn't have enough light to get the material shot in time. But everything happened on Katie time...and that was just the way things were.

The premise of the shoot was simple. Literally. I wanted as little make up as possible, as little clothing, bright strong lighting and a very natural feel. Katie and Claire had intially agreed to the shoot concept of 'natural' but as the day progressed Katie became more and more vocal about the fact she hated the entire idea.

“I look fucking ugly without my eyelashes on,” she moaned. “I can't stand this. It's going to look shit.”

I remember when the magazine came out everyone I knew loved the shoot and the cover – apart from Katie. I received a text from Katie: “It's OK. I think I look shit though. Next time can I look like Jordan please?”

Fortunately, the words made up for the pictures – she was on fire and you could tell she just wanted to be Jordan for the interview. With Claire's ban on her partying and doing any sort of glamour shoots Jordan was ready to return. It was obscene at times.

Katie's opening line in front of Claire was: “I can't wait for this. All I've done for two months is fucking women's mags. I'm ready to get dirty again.”

Claire's face was an absolute picture throughout the interview. She was permanently blushing and sitting with her head in her hands for most of the interview. I decided that the main crux of the interview should be her previous sexual liaisons and marking the men in question out of ten. The papers would love the answers, and we'd get some great pick up in the press. The conversation went as follows.

Me: I've prepared a scoreboard for you to rate most of the men you have been linked to. I say a name and you have to rate them in bed and in general.

Katie: Fucking hell, the size of my black book – this will take ages.

Peter Andre?

He's 10 out of 10. He's a very good kisser, with tongues. He's the best in fact – in fact he's the best I've ever been with.

Dwight Yorke?

Yuck. If you cut his head off then he's got a good body. But he's ugly and not my kind of thing. Probably a five out of 10.

Dane Bowers?

It was not that he was good, more the fact he was adventurous. I have had a lot better than him. If you want a man's finger rather than his cock then that's great. For being adventurous he's a seven or eight. But for actually doing it he's a four. He had all that weight pushing down on a needle prick. Needle boy.

Gareth Gates?

Good kisser – but he was a virgin, bless. There was feeling there. It was in and out, but there was feeling there. I'm sure he's good now. He wasn't at the time, though. He was a bit slack so I guess two out of 10. He's attractive, though.

Calum Best?

He wishes. Nothing has ever happened there.

Gladiator Ace?

God you're going back a bit! I saw a picture of him recently and he's so fucking ugly now. He's receded badly too. He was average. He cared more about his meals than me. I guess six or five. Actually can you change Dwight to two out of 10?

But she didn't stop there. It was like the fact Claire had kept Jordan in a cage doing the women's weeklies had allowed a sexual beast to be unleashed on the day. There were no limits to the muck that would fly out her mouth.

The next thing I asked was what her ultimate sexual fantasy was. She looked at Claire and turned to me and said: “What I'd love is to be on my knees blowing as many soldiers or army men as possible and then I want them all the cum and jizz in my face and my hair. Everywhere. All over me.”

Claire lost her rag big time.

“OK, Kate,” she puffed up. “That's enough. Dean, you're not putting that in. No way.”

“Why not?” said Katie running her fingers through her mane and licking her lips. “That's my fantasy. It would be so sexy.”

“Dean, under no circumstances is that going in,” Claire added.

Fortunately for Claire, Katie had even managed to out gross us the entire Loaded team. We all sat there gobsmacked listening in to that interview over our lunch.

By the end of the interview Claire looked like she was going to have a full-blown breakdown.

Fortunately, Katie did manage to give me a newsworthy story for the papers. She decided to start a bitter feud with Victoria Beckham during our interview and weeks later when the magazine hit the shelves the papers lapped it up.

Anybody else you want to have a pop at while you're in the mood?

Yeah – Posh.

OK, I'll ask you some questions about her. How many solo number one singles has she had?

None. She's shit. Keep trying, love.

Can you guess Posh's boob size?

Well, she's definitely had two boob jobs. I've seen the first one. She's quite small so I would say 32D. Yes, a C or a D or something.

Do you think she's had any other plastic surgery?

Yes, she's had her lips done, an acid wash, botox, boob jobs and liposuction, probably. And she's even got hair extensions like me. At least I admit what I've had done.

Would you like a threesome with Posh and David?

No thanks, I don't know where he's been.

The issue sold well and Katie (and Claire) turned up to the 10^th Anniversary party that I organised. Kate had one of the deepest tea bag tans I've ever seen, white blonde long hair and a bright pink ostrich feather short jump suit. It's fair to say she knew how to create a stir for the paparazzi. She still does.

We would stay in touch following that first cover shoot and I'd regularly meet Katie at events in town. I just understood her and, however much I didn't want to admit it, started to see how Claire was doing a great job in expanding her career path into the female brand market.

I may not have agreed with the way Claire went about business – selling off every inch of her clients private lives for her own capital gain – but I could see that it was having a profound effect on Katie's life. She knew she was going be raking in the cash and she knew sticking with Claire for as long as she could meant she'd be sorted for life.

As her relationship with Peter continued to flourish 'behind the scenes', the pair started to make firm plans to get married – and the media were loving it. It truly was the day and age of Jordan and Peter in the media.

But before the wedding plans got into full swing we were off to Los Angeles together for our next big shoot for Loaded.

I decided after the cover with Katie had sold so well, we ought to progress with another cover and this time we thought it would be amazing to team her up with another men's magazine legend.

“I want Pammy,” Katie told me. “Second choice is Carmen Electra. But Pammy is the priority. I've always wanted to get a little lesbian with Pammy. But I could do Carmen too.”

I knew I had a challenge on my hands to try and sign Pamela Anderson to do a cover with her British counterpart. And it turned out to be a flat out no from her agent. Pammy was 'busy'. LA agents love that term. Busy basically means: “Pammy doesn't do duo shoots.”

Fortunately, our reserve, Carmen, was more than up for a shoot with the British glamour Queen and after much wrangling (and £15,000 each) we agreed on a date and prepared to fly to LA.

Katie obviously wanted Claire and her make up man Gary Cockerill to come with her on the trip and I had the Loaded boys along too. We all stayed at The Standard on Sunset Boulevard and made plans for a fun Friday night out to welcome ourselves to LA before the shoot on the Saturday at a truly amazing house in the hills overlooking the valley below.

I myself couldn't wait for a large vodka after that long flight to LA and knew Katie would be the same. We headed to the oh-so-tacky Saddle Ranch on Sunset for food and drinks and I ordered a huge round of vodka tonics, a bucket of breaded chicken tenders and a colossal bowl of fries. But rather worringly it quickly became evident that Katie wasn't in the mood to party.

“I'm not in the mood for vodka,” she said sliding her drink away after taking a tiny sip.

“What do you mean?” I questioned. “It's our only fun night out!”

“I know, but I think I want to have soft drinks tonight,” she whispered. “I'll get a diet coke.”

Something was up. Katie Price aka Jordan not wanting to get off her head on grog the night before a shoot in LA. There was only one answer to this ridiculous turn of events...she was pregnant.

I didn't click until I got back home that she may have been pregnant. Throughout the shoot with Carmen she was saying she felt bloated, looked fat and wasn't looking half as sexy as Carmen. All the signs were there – but we were all so consumed in the shoot and making sure the shoots came out as planned that we didn't read the signs.

When I finally realised she was up the duff I began to panic about it big time. This was bad news for Loaded.

Generally, men's magazines would stop working with models who had babies or were recently pregnant. Male readers didn't want to think about their cover stars as mums with tums and stretch marks. It was a huge turn off. They wanted tiny waists, big tits and dirty bitches. How the hell I worked there I’ll never understand.

I had a race against time to get the cover out on the shelves before she started showing...

Rather annoyingly just four weeks after the shoot in LA I was at my desk and received a text from Kate: “Just to let you know. The reason I wasn't drinking vodka in LA was the fact I'm four months pregnant. I was incredibly ill and obviously had to keep it a secret. I've got a nice round tummy now though x”

GREAT.

This was the news I'd been dreading and it could have potentially botched up the entire £40,000 cover shoot with Carmen if she started to look visibly pregnant in the press.

We had no choice but to hold the cover for eight months – when Katie would have given birth and been back to her normal self. And as it happened the timing couldn't have been more perfect. The cover eventually made it onto the stands in September 2005 – the month Katie and Peter got married.

To be continued…