Those who saw Katie Price out shopping in central London this week were left deeply unsettled.
Walking alongside her daughter Princess, the former glamour model cut a stark and troubling figure. Her legs appeared painfully thin, whittled down almost to the bone, bending unnaturally inward above the knee. Her eyes looked sunken, her cheeks hollowed — giving the impression of someone frail, exhausted and unwell.
This, insiders say, is Katie Price’s new “look”. And it has left friends, family and fans fearing the worst.
At 47, every inch of Price’s body appears emaciated — with the glaring exception of her surgically enhanced bust, long a symbol of her public persona. While the public has grown accustomed to Katie flaunting the results of countless cosmetic procedures, these latest images sent shockwaves through her loyal following.
Online, concerned fans flooded social media with comments.
“She doesn’t look well.”
“She needs help.”
“She’s such a good mum — please take care of yourself.”
Among those disturbed by the pictures was celebrity photographer Jeany Savage, the woman who helped launch Katie’s career almost 30 years ago, capturing the then-19-year-old in her east London studio.
Back then, with her curves, bouncing curls and natural confidence, Katie looked far more like her daughter Princess does today than the gaunt, wraith-like figure she has become.
Jeany recalls how ambitious the young model was — desperate to make it to Playboy. She remembers calling America, sending photographs to Hugh Hefner, flying out for dinner, and watching Katie’s career explode almost overnight.
“She loved attention,” Jeany says quietly now. “Life was about attention, attention, attention.”
Seeing today’s images, however, she describes the transformation as traumatic.
“Look at her body. She does not look well,” Jeany says. “She’s gone far too thin, and far too far with procedures. It’s heartbreaking.
“I don’t think she feels sorry for herself. But I dread what she’ll do next. She’s uncontrollable. She will destroy herself — and she’s three-quarters of the way there already.”
Those fears are echoed by people still close to Price, many of whom say she has never appeared so fragile.
Her two eldest children with Peter Andre — Junior, 20, and Princess, 18 — are said to be “deeply fearful” for her wellbeing. One associate told me bluntly:
“Katie is the kind of person where, if you woke up to a text saying she’d died, you wouldn’t be shocked. It’s tragic. We genuinely don’t know how long she’ll be around for. She looks like she’s at death’s door.”
So what has driven this alarming decline?
A few months ago, Katie — once worth an estimated £40million — revealed on Snapchat that she had been hospitalised following unexplained and dramatic weight loss. Since then, she appears to have lost even more weight, admitting on her podcast The Katie Price Show that doctors were worried about her dangerously low blood pressure and questioning why she had become, in her own words, a “stick woman”.
Despite openly discussing her struggles, Katie has remained vague about the causes. She has previously admitted to drug use, including cocaine binges, though she denies using weight-loss injections.
Instead, she continues to monetise every aspect of her chaotic life: failed marriages, eight engagements, bankruptcies, family rows and at least 18 surgical procedures.
Her confessions captivate audiences. Alongside Kerry Katona, Katie recently toured the UK with a theatre show packed with bawdy stories and raw admissions — audiences lapping up every detail.
Once a staple of glossy magazine exclusives, Katie now floods social media. She earns thousands per Instagram post, runs a YouTube channel, podcasts regularly and reportedly makes up to £50,000 a month on OnlyFans by posing as her alter ego Jordan.
Friends worry she is monetising her body — and her suffering — to a potentially fatal degree.
“She becomes depressed if she’s not in the headlines for even a fortnight,” one insider says. “She feeds off drama.”
Even during a £1,000-a-night psychiatric hospital stay in 2021, following an admission that she had tried to take her own life, she allegedly tipped off photographers when leaving the unit.
The BBC documentary airing later this month has also raised eyebrows, with some friends accusing broadcasters of exploiting her decline — though critics note Katie has long profited from her own turmoil.
Her turbulent love life remains central to her story. From Dane Bowers and Dwight Yorke, to three failed marriages — Peter Andre, Alex Reid and Kieran Hayler — and a long list of broken engagements, stability has eluded her.
Her recent split from JJ Slater marks yet another chapter in a familiar cycle. Friends say the relationship had been faltering for over a year, held together only by pressure from those around her who hoped JJ might be a “stabilising force”.
But stability, it seems, is not what Katie ultimately craves.
“She wants fireworks,” one insider explains. “She wants attention, passion — and she doesn’t want to feel ordinary.”
Underlying it all, friends say, is unresolved trauma. Katie has spoken publicly about childhood sexual assault and multiple rapes, admitting that her relationship with love, sex and validation became deeply entwined.
“She’s tried therapy,” a friend says. “But she doesn’t truly want to change. And there are people around her who enable that.”
Even her relationship with Princess — who is reportedly trying to support her mother and help care for younger siblings — may not be enough to break a lifelong pattern.
As one source put it quietly:
“Katie wants the attention on her. Always.”
Whether she can be persuaded to finally care for herself remains painfully uncertain.
