‘Manipulative’ Peter Andre left Katie Price crying alone during mental health battle a week before wedding, says her mum

KATIE Price’s mum has branded her ex-husband Peter Andre “manipulative” and claims he left her crying at home as she struggled with her mental health.

In her sensational new book, Amy Price reveals she warned her daughter off Pete before they both entered the reality TV show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2004.

But Amy, 71, says Katie, now 45, ignored her and the pair entered a five-year relationship riddled with jealousy, where Peter manipulated rows on their reality TV series to make her daughter look bad.

Despite her concerns, Amy, who has the lung condition idiopathic pulmonary, says Katie was excited about getting wed and fulfilling her childhood dreams of a wedding with a pink dress and Cinderella carriage.

A week before, Peter, now 50, took Junior to Cyprus to celebrate his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary leaving Katie, who was suffering post-natal depression, crying.

Amy, who is battling a terminal illness, says “building a brand” had come at a “high price” and the “pursuit of money and fame was taking precedence over everything”.

She writes: “I’ve lived on the sidelines for years, forced to sit back as lie after lie has been printed about my daughter.

“Now, as I approach death, it’s high time I speak up and set the record straight.

“Her marriage to this man left her at her lowest ebb and set the scene for further toxic betrothals.

“He wanted to be rich and famous, and my daughter unwittingly became part of the plan.

“My daughter is no angel, but she became a sacrificial lamb in a celebrity slaughter the moment she paired up with Peter Andre.”

Amy describes it as a “management marriage” with their manager “so intrusively mixed up in their private life”.

She says one of the worst examples was at her daughter’s so-called “surprise” 30th birthday party in 2008 at the luxurious Luton Hoo Hotel, Beds. Amy went into Katie’s bedroom to find her manager placing “sex toys and condoms” on the bed to “try spicing it up for the storyline”.

She writes: “I actually felt sick to my stomach. I knew that, due to the post-natal depression Kate was still suffering with, sex was the last thing on her mind.

“To begin with, the reality TV editing process made Kate and Pete’s post wedding relationship look all lovey-dovey and nice.

“As the relationship progressed, there were clear signs of Pete’s fragile ego impacting his relationship, not least his continual need to rid himself of intolerable feelings by giving them to my daughter.

“Time and time again, she was the one made to feel insecure and bullied, so that she became the one on the verge of breaking down.

“The more insecure she became, Pete seemed increasingly repulsed by her vulnerability and cut deeper with his insults and passive aggressive mood swings.

“True, he did not beat her black and blue but his anger manifested itself in other ways. It chipped away at her self-esteem until she was a shell of her former self.

“Ultimately, he was and still is more skilful at separating his private and public self and presenting an outward facing Mr Nice Guy persona and it has served him well.

“Conversely, Kate has always worn her heart on her sleeve and it became an increasingly thread-bare garment.”

Amy says that towards the end of their relationship the editing of their reality show seemed to make Katie look moody and uncooperative and Pete look “the good guy”.

They went on to have another child, Princess, now 15, who was born in June 2007, but Amy says soon the marriage was in trouble.

The final trigger for Peter were rumours of an affair between Katie and international dressage rider Andrew Gould. Amy says she was never aware of any affair.

The final trigger which led Pete to call it a day was a photograph of Kate at the Badminton Horse Trials with her equestrian products manager, book agent and make-up artist. They were joined by the international dressage rider Andrew Gould and his wife Polly. They went on to a club where they were photographed.

Amy writes: “I was never aware of an affair between them.

“Afterwards somehow, Pete remained the handsome prince while she became the evil snow queen. Those of us closest to her know this was no accident, because she was part of a publicity machine which had sucked her in and was now viciously spitting her out.”

The Last Word by Amy Price is published by HQ on 6th July, priced £20. All funds and royalties due to Amy Price from this book have been donated in their entirety by Amy to: Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital, Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis and St Barnabas House, Worthing.