Life in the spotlight! Katie Price is no stranger to the limelight, breaking into the modeling scene when she was 17, under the pseudonym, Jordan.
Born Katrina Amy Alexandria Alexis Infield, the reality star changed her name to Katie Price after her mother married Paul Price. She changed it again to Jordan when launching her modeling career.
When appearing on 2004’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, the British star, 42, ditched her alter ego and opted to go by Katie Price for good.
The Sharknando 5: Global Swarming actress, who is currently dating Carl Woods, made headlines on Thursday, January 14, when she revealed her “heartbreaking” decision to put her 18-year-old son, Harvey, in a full-time care facility.
“It’s so upsetting to think I won’t see him every day but this is the best thing for Harvey and we have to think positively because I don’t want him to think I’m just getting rid of him,” the mother of five told The Sun. “This is his chance to live an independent life, learn skills and socialize with people other than me. I’m trying to get him used to me not being there all the time. But he’ll call on his iPad and say, ‘Mum, I need you’, and I run to him.”
Price’s eldest child, whom she shares with former professional football player Dwight Yorke, was born with sept-optic dysplasia. The condition has left Harvey partially blind, due to the development of his optic nerve being unpredictable. He also gains weight easily due as a result of having Prader-Willis syndrome and is on the autism spectrum.
“I need to learn to let go but it’s tough — anyone in my position knows how hard it is,” she explained. “We have an incredible bond. I don’t know how Harvey will react or how he’ll feel when I can’t get to him. It’s too painful to think about.”
The “Hurricane” singer noted that Harvey will live three hours away until he’s 25, in a facility that gives him his own study area and helps him stay fit.
“I need to get him the help he deserves because he will die if he doesn’t exercise,” Price said. “I’m hoping he will make friends so he can socialize at the weekends, but if he has no plans then he can come home whenever he wants.”
The designer hopes to move Harvey into his new home in September but said things could change amid the coronavirus pandemic. Until then, the mother-son duo have been working on telling his story in the upcoming show, Katie Price: Harvey and Me on BBC, which will air on January 25.
“I wanted to share what really goes on behind closed doors – Harvey isn’t a thing to poke fun at, he’s my son, he overcomes mountains and obstacles every day that other people take for granted,” Price wrote via Instagram on Thursday. “Being a single parent of a disabled child is a badge of honour for me! I am so proud of him, he has feelings, and so do I.”
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