Early life
Price was born in and brought up in the seaside town of Brighton in East Sussex, England. Her mother is English and her maternal grandmother is Jewish. She took the surname Price after her mother remarried following the split from her biological father when she was a child. Price has an older brother named Daniel and a younger sister, Sophie.
Her decision to start modelling came after a friend suggested she have some professional photographs done. The pictures were sent to a modelling agency in London, and to her surprise, the agency invited her into their studios for a photo shoot and to discuss a contract. Within weeks she began appearing on 'Page 3' of the The Sun newspaper (topless modelling). It was at this time that she assumed the name 'Jordan'.
Career
In an attempt to cross over from modeling to other areas, Jordan (unsuccessfully) tried out for a part on the television series Baywatch in 1998, guest presented The Big Breakfast and played herself in an episode of Dream Team.
Although she was already a well-established model, with frequent appearances on Page 3 and in men's lifestyle magazines to her credit, Jordan still had a feeling of insecurity about her breast size, and believed that implants would look better. Friends, photographers with whom she had worked - and even her parents - were against the idea. Nevertheless, the operation went ahead, and her cup size increased from a B to a D. She has stated that she "always felt that [she] looked flat-chested when [she] stood next to other girls on the glamour circuit". Her choice to "go under the knife" was a definitive factor in her retirement from Page 3 topless modelling for The Sun, which had recently decided on a "natural beauty" policy, requiring all its models to be "silicone-free".
Jordan appeared in six volumes of Playboy's Book of Lingerie from 1997 to 1999.
Jordan has also graced the covers of FHM, Maxim, Nuts, Front, Zoo Weekly, Sky, Esquire, Loaded and Ice magazines.
In 2002, she was shooting a cover to run in Playboy when Hugh Hefner invited her to spend three weeks at his mansion. She appeared at a number of promotional events for the similarly named Jordan Grand Prix Formula One team during this time, during a period when they were heavily promoting themselves to the youth market.
During the June 7, 2001 British General Election, Jordan ran as a candidate in Stretford and Urmston under her real name using the slogan: 'For a Bigger and Betta Future'. As part of her election campaign, which was intended to bring a little fun into a dull election, she promised free breast implants, increases on nudist beaches, and a ban on parking tickets. In the end, Jordan won 713 votes which equalled 1.8% of the vote.
Jordan (now preferring to be known to the public as Katie Price while not modelling) began 2004 by appearing on the reality TV series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!, alternately falling out with John Lydon and flirting in the jungle with singer Peter Andre. Price appeared on Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on May 23, 2004. She completed the lap in 1:52s. She also made a cameo appearance playing herself in an episode of the television drama series Footballers' Wives and appeared in the programme Jordan Gets Even for Five.
She appeared in the documentaries Jordan: Living Without Fame (Channel 4), Jordan: The Truth About Me, Jordan: Model Mum, Jordan: You Don't Even Know Me (BBC Choice) and the series When Jordan met Peter (ITV1), Jordan and Peter: Laid bare (ITV2), Jordan and Peter: Marriage and mayhem (ITV2) and Jordan Gets Even (Five).
Under the name Katie Price, she was one of the acts competing for the right to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, to be held in Ukraine. On 5 March 2005, singing a song titled Not Just Anybody, wearing a skin tight pink catsuit whilst heavily pregnant, she lost the public vote, coming in second place in the pre-selection show Making Your Mind Up, behind Javine. The other contestants were the 1996 UK entrant Gina G, as well as Andy Scott-Lee, and the group Tricolore. She has constantly claimed she has a recording contract though many in the music industry apparently connected with Katie deny this. She also admits the Eurovision was a mistake and is one of few regrets of her current career.
In summer 2005, Jordan was one of many guest hosts of the first series of The Friday Night Project and later appeared on the cover of Loaded magazine with Carmen Electra.
Price claimed in 2005 that she soon would be retiring her Jordan image. In May 2004, she published her autobiography, Being Jordan, to surprisingly positive reviews; it became a massive best-seller and the 4th best-selling autobiography of all time in the UK. Jordan: A Whole New World, her second autobiography, was released January 2006 and has so far sold nearly 400,000 copies.[citation needed] Her first autobiography has sold 500,000[citation needed] copies so far, while the second sold 300,000[citation needed] within just the first 6 weeks of its release.
In December 2005 she released the best selling fitness DVD The Jordan Workout featuring 'The Juice Master' Jason Vale.
In April 2006 Price appeared in a photo shoot for American Vogue by David Bailey as part of the magazine's Shape issue.
In summer 2006 she announced she was planning to flaunt her talents across the Atlantic and appeared on USA TV channel E!. She was only given a controversial five minutes of interviewing time and faced mixed reactions from American audiences.
In Summer 2006 the novel Angel, a work of fiction, by Katie Price was published and hit the best-selling lists across the country.
In November 2006 Katie Price launched The Katie Price Lingerie Collection in conjunction with Panache available exclusively at Asda stores nationwide. In 2006 the 'Jordan At Asda ' jewellery range was launched, as well as a follow-up jewellery deal with Argos.
In November 2006, Katie Price appeared on the front cover of British Elle magazine.
Jordan and Andre released a duets album on 27 November 2006 titled A Whole New World with all proceedings going to their chosen charities due to the poor health conditions of Jordan's son Harvey. The album debuted at #20 in the UK album chart. The album went gold in two weeks selling 100,000 copies.
Price continues to write a regular advice column in OK! magazine and has previously contributed to More and The Sun.
A chat show, The Jordan and Peter Show has recently been commissioned and will be screened on ITV in 2007 as part of a six figure exclusive, "golden handcuffs" deal with the network.
In October 2006, an article was published in The Daily Mail called Britain's Richest celebrity chavs. Price and her husband Peter Andre were ranked at #2, second only to David Beckham and Victoria Beckham. The piece claimed that with an estimated fortune of £30million and rising, Price currently stands as one of the richest women in Britain.
In early 2007, Price was announced as the new face of Foxy Bingo, in March 2007, Price was named Gratan Celebrity Mum of the year in a nationwide poll and in April 2007 she appeared on the front cover of the iconic women's magazine Cosmopolitan.
Later in 2007, Price will release her first children's book, launch her own signature scent, expand her lingerie range and begin writing her biopic.
It has recently been announced that the E! network has bought the rights to screen the Jordan and Peter ITV2 series of programmes on American television.
Personal life
As her career began to blossom, Jordan embarked on several brief relationships with celebrities and sports stars including footballers Teddy Sheringham, and Dwight Yorke, and a more serious relationship with the TV Gladiator 'Ace' (real name Warren Foreman). Despite Jordan's declaration of love for the Gladiator star, the relationship didn't last. Jordan has subsequently attributed the break-up to Warren's severe jealousy of all the male attention she received.
Jordan had a much publicised relationship with Dane Bowers of the boy band Another Level. She aborted his baby after discovering he had cheated on her.
On May 27, 2002, she gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Harvey Daniel; choosing the name Harvey after her grandfather, and Daniel after her brother. Harvey's father is the Sunderland footballer Dwight Yorke, although just as during her previous pregnancy, the relationship ended before the child was born. Jordan has said she intended to have the birth shown live over the Internet, but changed her mind later and decided to keep it private. Harvey was born at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, his birth being induced as he was two weeks overdue.[6] He was found to be blind, having a condition known as septo-optic dysplasia, meaning that his optic nerve hadn't developed correctly. Harvey has had multiple stays in hospital including most recently on New Years Eve following an accident at their home.[7]
That same year, Jordan was treated for cancer. She had a leiomyosarcoma on her finger, this being a rare form of malignant tumour which attacks smooth muscle tissue and can spread around the body. She had it removed at Nuffield Hospital.[8]
Despite her health scares, Jordan managed to keep the British press happy in 2002 with the revelation that she had embarked on a secret sexual relationship with Gareth Gates (the then 17 year old pop-star of Pop Idol fame), whilst she was 4 months pregnant with her son Harvey.[9]
Price's relationship with Andre seemed to have resurrected both of their careers. Price's antics in the jungle meant that she was rarely out of the British press at this time. In February 2005 Price announced that she was 5 months pregnant, with Peter Andre's child. Price gave birth by Caesarean section to her second child, a 5lb 13oz boy named Junior Savva Andre, on 13 June 2005. On September 10, 2005, she married André at Highclere Castle, Hampshire. In July 2006, it was announced that she had suffered a miscarriage - she was three and a half months pregnant.[10]
In November 2006 she and her husband released a CD of duets to raise money for various charities. In the 6 November edition of OK magazine it was revealed that Jordan is expecting her third child. She is due in summer 2007
Appearances in Playboy special editions
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 58 November 1997 — Byron Newman, pages 24-25.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 59 January 1998 — Byron Newman, pages 84-89.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 60 March 1998 — pages 44-47.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 61 May 1998 — pages 34-35.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 65 January 1999 — pages 22-23.
Playboy's Voluptuous Vixens Vol. 7 April 2003 — cover.
Published works
After her appearance on "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here", Jordan's career took a different turn as she began a writing career. Her first two titles Being Jordan and Jordan: A Whole New World were autobiographies which went on to become best sellers in the United Kingdom. Her most recent success has been with Angel a novel which could be loosely based upon her experiences as a model.
Being Jordan (06.05.2004)
Being Jordan [paperback edition] (01.07.2005)
Jordan: A Whole New World (26.01.2006)
Angel (06.07.2006)
Jordan: A Whole New World [paperback edition] (01.03.2007)Katie Price
