Katie Price recalled being sexually assaulted in front of her young children and revealed the lasting impact the trauma had on her mental health.
The 46-year-old mother-of-five describes in her latest autobiography the moment she braced herself for being shot in the face in South Africa and her pain at knowing that two of her five children witnessed her sexual assault during a terrifying carjacking during the trip in 2018.
Katie writes about how the traumatic experience with children Junior And Princess Andrewthat she shares with her ex-husband Pierre Andréleft them “all affected” to this day – with the reality star recounting how the attack led to her attempting suicide and being diagnosed with PTSD.
In the section of her new memoir devoted to the hijacking, Katie begins to tell readers how she has been sexually assaulted three times in her life; the first time by a stranger as a young child, the second by an unnamed celebrity, and the third while she was in South Africa in 2018 while filming her ITV reality TV show, My Crazy Life, with a crew and two of her five children, Junior, then 13, and her eldest daughter Princess, then 11.
Recalling this traumatic experience, Katie introduces readers to her friend Neil Tawse, a man she has known since she was 15 and is still friends with today. “We never had sex or a one-night stand. I’ve lost count of the number of people who thought we would get together, but we are still the best of friends and I owe him my life,” Katie writes.
She goes on to reveal that Neil is originally from South Africa, which is why she agreed to film her reality show so he could accompany her on her trip and show her a bit of her home country. During the trip, Katie, Junior, Princess, Neil, and the show’s director went on a safari, with everything planned out and everyone happy with the journey before they left.
But after the safari, the director “wanted to take a longer, different route home.” Katie explains that there were only two cars: one with the film and one with her, Junior and Princess in it while Neil drove. She still remembers at one point radioing the other car to let them know that Junior needed to pee. “We were on a deserted road, so we pulled over. Junior got out of the car and stood on a bank while I got out too. Princess was behind me,” Katie recalls.
That’s when things took a terrifying turn. Katie recalls: “I heard Junior yelling, ‘Oh, Mom, look over here! Imagine if I jumped over that bit,’ pointing to the edge of the bank where he was, and I think I said something like, ‘Oh, Junior!’ The next thing I knew, there was screaming all around me. It was loud and it sounded like, ‘Casa, casa, get in the fucking car, car…’ I couldn’t quite make it out, but the screaming was so loud and sudden.”
In the excerpt from Katie’s new autobiography, Celebrity Big brother The winner said she remembers being “stunned” when she saw six men get out of a car. The mother-of-six admits it took her a few minutes to process what was happening before her protective instincts took over and she grabbed Junior and Princess and ran back to her own car.
“To be honest, I have a bit of a memory. It all happened really quickly, but at the time it felt like it had been going on forever,” Katie recalls. “It was surreal. I kept thinking, ‘Is this happening? Is this really happening? Am I dreaming?’ I could make out two men, who I now know were hijackers, trying to get into the other car, where the film crew was, while the others were all around our car.”
She then recounts how she called the camera crew to help them, but no one came to their rescue. She describes how she tried to reassure Junior and Princess as they screamed, but admits she was “absolutely petrified” and “thought we were all going to die”. The next few minutes became a “horrible blur” for Katie, as one of the men managed to get into her car.
“They put their hands everywhere, inside me and in my pants. I kept saying, ‘Let me go, let me go! I’ve got nothing!’ But they took everything, all the jewelry I had and my watch,” Katie bravely tells readers of the horrific experience. She goes on to recall how some of the men tried to get into the back of the car.
She writes: “The princess’s door was unlocked and I knew I wouldn’t let these men near my children. I screamed bloody murder. The next thing I remember is trying to find the keys to start the car. I had the keys, but my hands were shaking so much I couldn’t get them into the ignition. And then it was too late.”
Katie reveals how the hijackers saw what she was doing and snatched the keys from her hands, leaving her fearing the worst. She then grabbed a pillow and put it over her face as she waited for them to shoot her. She tells readers how she wanted to protect her children and was terrified.
The star’s fears led Neil to confront the men. “He got out of the car and said to the men, ‘Well, come on, if you want him, take him!’ And he started trying to beat them up,” Katie writes. “But there were so many of them. They started beating Neil up. It was horrible.”
She recalls how Neil managed to grab their car keys and return to the vehicle, “but then they hit him” with what Katie believes was the butt of a gun. The reality star recalls the brutal altercation and how “all of a sudden there was blood everywhere” as Neil was knocked unconscious.
“I’ll never forget the look of terror on my kids’ faces. When you see your kids living a horror story and you can’t stop it, it haunts you,” Katie wrote. “Then, suddenly, as quickly as it all happened, everything went completely silent. The men were gone, taking the keys to both cars. It was like a zombie movie after that.”
In the excerpt published in the Daily MailKatie recalls how they got out of the cars in shock before realizing they had a chance to escape and get help. They tried to stop a car but had no luck until a family finally stopped and begged them for help. The family called the nearby police and Katie writes that she and her children “were finally safe.”
She then recounts how they sat in the police car waiting for an ambulance to arrive to treat Neil’s injuries. “He had stitches in his eye and to this day he can’t see well and has a scar. Neil risked his life for us and it made our friendship stronger than ever,” Katie writes.
The I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star then recalled how some of the TV crew decided to return to the UK after the horrific incident, but she decided to continue working. Katie wrote that she was in shock at the decision at the time and would now be heading home in an instant.
She writes: “Why did I continue to film after the hijacking and sexual assault? Why? Because I thought I was going to lose my contract and needed to work. The next adventure we agreed on was to swim with sharks. I mean, looking back on it now, swimming with fucking sharks? What was I thinking!”
Katie concludes by explaining how she tried to push everything that happened in South Africa away, but it eventually became too much for her and she attempted suicide. She ended up being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder at The Priory. Six years after the hijacking, Katie still struggles to talk about the traumatic attack.
“But as horrible as it was, it also showed me that a mother’s love knows no bounds,” she writes in her new book. “I was willing to give my life for my children as I sat in the car in front of them, a pillow over my face, bracing myself for the gunshot before the bullet entered my body. It never happened. I got a second chance at life and I’m not going to waste it.”
*This Is Me: The High Life. The Dark Days. The Complete Story by Katie Price will be published by John Blake on July 18. © Katie Price 2024.
If you have been a victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources through www.rapecrisis.org.uk or by calling the national helpline on 0808 802 9999
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