Katie Price's ex-husband told a jury she convinced him to call himself a 'sex addict' to cover up her 'embarrassment' at his cheating and make money. Kieran Hayler, 39, said he used the description to explain his affair with the couple's nanny, but it was not correct.
Giving evidence at Lewes Crown Court, the former stripper said he did not have a sex addiction and it had been made up 'for the publicity'. He said Price, 48, and her management 'created a narrative' to make headlines and earn income from the publicity.
Made-up publicity
"I have used that description, yes, but it's not correct," Hayler told the jury. "It was just made-up publicity as with all of Kate's life." He said it was to save his ex-wife the 'embarrassment' after he had cheated on her with their nanny.
Cross-examining Hayler, who denies sex charges involving a 13-year-old girl, prosecutor Ryan Richter produced a 2017 newspaper article in which the defendant admitted he had the condition. In it Hayler said: "Nobody wants to be a sex addict, nobody wants to cheat on their wife, but in that situation I haven't been able to help that."
Feud with Price
Asked why he had said it, Hayler replied: "It affected my life by talking about it. Kate decided that's what we're going to run with." The prosecutor noted that in the article Hayler also went 'out of his way' to say Price 'isn't a liar'. Mr Richter asked if that was made up too. Hayler replied: "It is, yeah."
Hayler told the jury the allegations he faced were a 'smear campaign to ruin me' by Price. He said the end of their marriage had nothing to do with the teenager he is accused of having a relationship with. He said the final trigger for him moving out of their home was coming downstairs one morning and seeing it in an 'actual state'. "Drugs on the side, cocaine on the worktops, alcohol everywhere - the house was an actual state," he said.
Mr Richter said: "Your feud with Katie Price is not what this case is about, is it?" Hayler replied: "It is." Mr Richter went on: "This case is about you having raped a girl isn't it?" Hayler said: "I have not."
Allegations of coaching
Hayler has accused Price of 'coaching' the teenager into making sex allegations against him to 'warrant' her own affair as 'trust had gone on both sides' of their marriage. He told the jury he had found messages Price had sent the girl and photographed them because his ex had made out he 'fancied' the youngster, promising her in one: "I will make you a little star."
Giving evidence earlier in the trial, Price said it was just a 'figure of speech' with 'no agenda or nothing behind it'. But Hayler said he thought it was 'weird', 'very pushy' and a 'very strange comment to make'. "I thought she was coaching her into something she shouldn't," he told the jury.
Mr Richter accused Hayler of only producing the messages now because he was 'desperate'. Hayler replied: "Not desperate. I found them". The prosecutor said the messages did not help Hayler because they showed the alleged victim 'admitting for the very first time sexual things happened between the two of you'. But Hayler said he had never flirted with the girl, who is not part of either his or Price's extended families. He has told the jury he was attracted to 'older women'.
Hayler denies three rapes and one charge of sexually assaulting the girl in West Sussex in 2016 and four alternative counts of sexual activity with a child. His 2013 marriage to Price broke up in 2018. He was Price's third husband following her marriages to singer Peter Andre and cage fighter Alex Reid. The trial continues.
