Reality TV star accuses defence lawyer of ‘slander’ for calling her a ‘liar’ and cries ‘discrimination’ after brief brings up her ‘cocaine and booze benders’
Katie Price clashed with a lawyer and got a warning from a judge after telling her ex-husband’s rape trial he was a ‘wrong ‘un’. The reality TV star and author angrily lashed out at her ex Kieran Hayler’s barrister after being accused of lying over his relationship with the alleged 13-year-old girl victim.
Katie, 48, told the court the frightened teen had messaged her saying Hayler had ‘tried to kiss her’, ‘done stuff to her’ and had told her ‘he loved her’. Under cross examination the former glamour model said: “It was all wrong what he did. He’s just a wrong ’un.”
Katie then accused Hayler’s lawyer Arlette Piercy of trying to put her on trial. She said she knew he had ‘done stuff’ with the alleged victim. “I got the messages,” she said. “You shouldn’t turn this case against me. The real reason why we’re here is what he’s done to a child – not me.”
She asked Ms Piercy: “Are you calling me a liar?” The lawyer replied: “I am.”
Katie then said: “I don’t need to be here. You can see in black and white something’s gone on. I won’t have anybody call me a liar.”
She tore into Ms Piercy again after the lawyer referenced the star’s ‘cocaine and booze benders’.
“That’s discrimination,” Katie replied. “Everyone knows I self-medicated on coke due to Kieran introducing it. You are wrong and trying to discriminate me. The press know it all because of my journey. I ended up in therapy and tried to kill myself twice. You’re not going to slander my name. I don’t care if you are a barrister, you are not going to slander my name like that. I don’t need to sit here like a therapy session.”
Judge Mark van der Zwart gave the star a warning after she earlier told the Lewes Crown Court jury there were ‘other kids that haven’t come forward’.
The judge said she could only voice her beliefs about her ex-husband’s behaviour towards the alleged victim in the case. In front of the jury he told her: “When you’re being asked questions today please would you not mention any beliefs you may have whether Kieran Hayler has behaved inappropriately with anyone else.”
Hayler, 39, denies three rapes and one charge of sexually assaulting the girl in West Sussex in 2016. She is not part of his or Price’s extended families.
During three days of evidence Katie said she was so ‘shocked’ after receiving the teen’s messages about then-husband Hayler she had a ‘breakdown’ and had to ‘go into the Priory’.
But despite his alleged declaration of love for the youngster and his later 10-month affair with a nanny the TV star insisted their 2018 split after five years of marriage had been ‘amicable’. They divorced in 2021.
Katie denied Ms Piercy’s suggestions she was ‘angry and vengeful’, possessed ‘venom’ for Hayler and had conducted a long-standing vendetta against him.
She admitted telling the alleged victim ‘I will make you a little star’ during messages they swapped but insisted it was just a ‘figure of speech’ with ‘no agenda or nothing behind it’.
The court heard when first questioned about the teen’s allegations in 2022 Hayler told police ex-wife Katie had ‘launched a campaign’ against him when their marriage ended and the accusations were part of it.
He said he had ‘100%’ not raped the girl and believed he was being ‘set up’. “The thought someone thinks I would do that is horrible. It makes me feel sick,” he said. Hayler told detectives he believed Katie had ‘planted a seed’ with the alleged victim.
“It’s like a smear campaign to ruin me,” he said. “For this to come completely out of the blue I feel like somebody here is trying to set me up. Kate would put pressure on anybody. For her to not have anything on me I think kills her a little bit inside.” Asked by officers if he had carried out the alleged attacks he replied: “No, never.”
Actor Hayler was Katie’s third husband following her marriages to singer Peter Andre and cage fighter Alex Reid. The trial continues.