Katie Price has revealed that her Page Three career was a way to reclaim control over her body after suffering horrific childhood abuse. The 48-year-old glamour model is the subject of a new Sky docuseries exploring her transformation from Katie Price to Jordan and her rise to fame.
Abuse at Age Seven
Price first found stardom at 18 when she appeared topless on Page Three of the Daily Star. In the documentary, she explains that the experience helped her cope with the trauma of being sexually assaulted as a child. “I wanted people to want me. I wanted people to want to f*** me but the most powerful thing about it is they couldn’t touch me. It was just a picture,” she said.
Reflecting on the assault, which occurred when she was seven years old, Price recalled being approached by a paedophile in a park. “I remember him approaching us, wanting us to do things to him and him wanting to do stuff to us. And I can remember his face as clear as day. The feelings of what he did,” she said. Other children came to her rescue and called the police, who took her underwear as evidence.
Therapy and Control
Pricey, as she is known, has undergone therapy as an adult to address her traumatic childhood. She recognises that the abuse fundamentally altered her. “Through the years, there's a picture of abuse by men against me, taking advantage of me from a young age. And each time a trauma happened, I think it affected me. I used to like dressing up and being looked at but not being touched. I was the one in control,” she said.
Her move into modelling began when she was working as a hotel receptionist in Brighton. During a lunch break, she stripped topless and posed in a red thong for photos sent to an agency. Soon after, she was called in for a newspaper job after another model couldn't attend. “Back then, the Star had a thing called page three. Every day, different girl in the paper. Seems mad now when you look back at it but it was mainstream,” Price said.
Rise to Fame
Price became one of the most famous glamour models of the 1990s, alongside Kelly Brook and Melinda Messenger. She said she “always knew” she would be famous and would try to “be sexy” to grab men’s attention in clubs, a behaviour she attributes to her childhood pain. The Daily Star dropped its topless Page Three in 2019, but Price says she “hasn’t left” the paper since her first appearance.
