You Only Live Once (19 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

MY
CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER
HUSBAND!

I had known as far back as October that Alex had been asked to go on
Celebrity Big Brother
, and when we’d discussed whether or not he should go on it, I’d told him that it would be great for him to do it so people could see what he was really like. But I also warned him that the show could possibly be edited in a way which might show him in a bad light, especially as the press stories about him had already been so negative.

I did have some concerns for him. He is such a lovely, open and friendly guy, but he hasn’t had much experience of dealing with the media and I worried that he might be stitched up. I know only too well how devious and manipulative the media can be. I also told him: ‘If you do go on the show, try not to talk about me. Let people see what
you
are like. You don’t just want to be known as being Katie Price’s boyfriend.’ Later some of the press would make out that I had been a total control freak about what Alex could or couldn’t say about me on the show; how I had written out a list of commandments for him, telling him that he would be dumped if he said anything out of turn, which was complete rubbish. All I wanted was for him to be himself.

On Sunday, 3 January 2010 Alex went into the Big Brother house to a chorus of boos. I felt gutted for him when I heard the crowd’s reaction. I knew they were booing him because they had believed all those negative press stories about both of us. But I also knew that Alex was strong and wouldn’t let it get to him. Before he went in I told him, ‘Whatever happens, I’ll be here waiting for you. I love you.’

For the next four weeks I missed him so much! I was pining for him: missing talking to him, missing having cuddles, missing our banter, missing all his love. I drove everyone around me crazy by asking them all the time if they thought he still loved me, and were they sure he hadn’t gone off me? Then I’d try and be rational and say to myself, ‘Of course he hasn’t gone off you! He wants to marry you, Kate!’ I was also in a constant state of nervous tension because I so wanted him to do well. I was glued to the TV in the evenings and couldn’t go to sleep until I knew he was tucked up in bed, which I could see for myself as there was a live feed through the night.

Once I saw that he wasn’t immediately nominated for eviction by the public, I started to think that he was in with a very good chance of winning the show. He was coming across so well, showing all the qualities that I loved about him – how easy-going he is, how kind, what a gentleman, how up for every task, how he doesn’t take himself too seriously and always tells it like it is. Basically what an all-round loveable guy he is. And very soon everyone else seemed to pick up on those qualities too and realise that you can’t actually say a bad word about Alex. Which was ironic as practically from the moment we got together the press were trying to make out he was some cross-dressing pervert, and all along I stuck by him because I knew what a wonderful, decent guy he really was. I recorded a message for him, telling him how proud I was of him and how I hoped we could do the thing we didn’t have time to do before he went in . . . which only he would understand, hopefully!

I spoke regularly to his mum about how he was getting on and posted my thoughts on Twitter about how well I thought Alex was doing and how very much I missed him. And then I thought, ‘Why the hell did I tell him not to talk about me too much?’ All I wanted was to hear him say that he loved me – Katie Price! Alex did talk about how in love he was, referring to me as ‘the other half’. But he didn’t use my name, and before long I was desperate to hear him say that he loved and missed me. It was torture!

Meanwhile in the outside world I was busy filming my TV reality show and having meetings to set up my other work projects for the year. Since 2009 had been such a difficult time quite a few of my planned launches for new products didn’t happen. But I was determined to make 2010 a more successful year than ever workwise. I had plans for a new perfume, a make-up range, and a collection of baby clothes. I couldn’t wait to get started. And I wanted to get back on track with my riding, hopefully so I could compete again.

A few days into the New Year I flew over to Holland with the film crew and Andrew and Diana to buy a new horse. By the time we flew back, the UK was in the grip of one of the heaviest snowfalls for decades. In fact, Andrew, Diana and the film crew got snowed in at my house for two days! The kids all had a great time, sledging and making snowmen in the back garden, but I had ’flu and could only lie on the sofa, sniffing and coughing. Meanwhile the press were busy twisting the facts so as to come out with the story that Andrew and I were snowed up on our own together in my house! It was so ridiculous I didn’t let it get to me. It was just another made-up story in the whole long line of them, and once again I knew that people would see what had actually happened on my TV show. But I was concerned for my friends Andrew and Polly, who were innocently caught up in it all.

Other stories at the time included my appearance at my friend Danielle Lloyd’s engagement party, where the press made out I was flirting with Olly Murs from
X
Factor
when I was just chatting to him and giving him some advice about management. Because I’ve been in the business so long, I know how the world works and always tell any young person I meet in the media that they need to be very careful because management will take a cut of everything they do when in fact they can actually set things up themselves and cut out the middle man. And I was supposedly flirting with some Spurs footballer I had never even heard of, never mind met. Oh, yes, and apparently I was also going to dump Alex and go off with Jermain Defoe. You couldn’t make it up! Except they had. Never mind all the made-up stories about my reaction to seeing Alex in the Big Brother house – ranging from being angry that he had mentioned me and our relationship, when as I’ve already said I was desperate for him to tell the world that he loved me, to the fact that I was fiercely jealous of his friendship with fellow housemate Nicola T. I wasn’t – not one little bit. After she was voted out of the house, she actually sent me a nice lot of goodies, including some tops with her logo on them.

By the time
CBB
was coming to end I was almost driven mad from missing Alex so much. I needed to see him so badly it hurt! I even lost a bit of weight through pining for him. But I was thrilled that he was doing so well. On the day of the final I was so nervous for him. I wanted him to win and was absolutely thrilled he had made it this far. I went to the
CBB
studio with his mum, his two sisters, his sister-in-law and his best friend, and we were all sitting in the green room watching the huge TV screen, willing Alex to be named as the winner. Vinnie Jones came third, leaving Alex, my fiancé and Dane Bowers, my ex. I thought, ‘That must prove that I always go for genuine guys, seeing as the public like both of them!’ I also saw Dane’s dad, brother and sister there, and it was the first time I’d seen them since I’d split up from Dane all those years ago. I went over and said ‘hi’ and it was all perfectly friendly, but it was quite weird being in a room with Alex’s family and my ex’s.

Earlier I’d chatted to Davina and asked if she would pass on a message from me to Alex. ‘Will you tell him that I love him and that I’m here for him?’ I wanted him to know how I felt the moment he came out of the house. Later, Alex told me that as soon as he met up with Davina, she told him what I’d said and he was really relieved.

When she finally announced that Alex was indeed the winner, I was over the moon, jumping up from my seat and hugging his mum and sisters. Now I just had to see my man! As Alex came out of the house he was cheered by the crowd – such a difference from a month earlier! ‘I’m a man in love!’ he told the crowd. ‘I love Katie Price!’ My heart leaped, and everyone in the green room cheered. He got booed by the crowd, though, when he mentioned my name. ‘Hang on! he exclaimed. ‘Why are you booing her?’ I think he went on to say something along the lines of how, four weeks earlier, they had booed him because they didn’t know him when he went into the house. Now they were booing me, but that was because they didn’t know me either.

But I didn’t care about the crowd’s reaction – to me it is like a panto. While it isn’t very pleasant to hear yourself booed, I didn’t let it get to me. All I wanted to do was see Alex. But one of the production team told me that I couldn’t see him until the end of the night, after he had done his press call and after his de-briefing session with the psychiatrist. ‘Bollocks to that!’ I thought. ‘I
am
going to see him. I’m his fiancée, they can’t keep me away from him!’ By now I was outside the studio and watching Alex on-stage with Davina. I had wanted to look good for him and was wearing a little black dress, sheer socks and heels, and was absolutely freezing! ‘How do you think he will greet me?’ I kept asking everyone around me. ‘D’you think he will hug and kiss me or ignore me?’ I felt like a groupie, waiting for him.

As I went to walk towards Alex, security tried to stop me. ‘None of you lot can tell me what to do!’ I declared, and carried on walking past them. I was a woman on a mission, and my mission was to be reunited with my man! I think they realised that it would be more trouble than it was worth to hold me back. I felt as if I was in a movie at that moment because as soon as our eyes met, Alex and I ran to each other and hugged and kissed – really it should have been in slow motion with romantic music playing in the background. We didn’t care about anyone else; we were together and that was all that mattered.

From then on I didn’t leave his side. I went and saw the psychiatrist with him, and did the press call with him. And as soon as we were on our own in his dressing room, we couldn’t hold back any longer and we did have a cheeky quickie. We were both dying for each other! It was naughty, though, as the production team were all outside . . . We were so excited to see each other, we could hardly get all the words out that we wanted to say. Amongst many other things we both said that we couldn’t wait to get married. There was nothing stopping us now – my divorce had come through, we had a small window in our work schedules. It was time to tie the knot – Vegas-style!

* * *

So on Monday, 1 February 2010, a few days after Alex had been crowned the winner of
Celebrity Big Brother
, we flew to Las Vegas. I did have my film crew with me but the plan was that they would only film some of the run-up to the wedding and our mini-honeymoon in Vegas. I did want them to film the ceremony, but that would be for Alex and me and our family and friends. It wasn’t going to be shown on my ITV series. Gary and Diana came with us too. I couldn’t take the children as they were with Pete, but Alex and I had already decided that we would have a blessing ceremony later in the year to which all our family and friends would be invited.

We kept our wedding plans a secret from our friends and from the press, but we had told our families on the way to the airport and they were really happy for us. Though I think my mum already knew what I was up to as earlier in the week I had asked her if she knew where my decree nisi was, and I had asked one of her friends who had tied the knot in Vegas what it was like getting married there.

It had to be Vegas. As I’ve already explained, it’s the only place you can get married so soon after a divorce, but it was also perfect for us as Alex knows Vegas really well. It’s the centre of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and so he has lots of contacts there. And Vegas always seems like such a fun and happening city where anything is possible, which suited us as a couple very well. Vegas is certainly Wedding Central as apparently some 120,000 couples get hitched there annually. And so many stars have got married there – from Elvis Presley marrying Priscilla to Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton. Though let’s hope that my marriage to Alex lasts longer than Angelina and Billy Bob’s . . .

We touched down at 10 o’clock at night and had to dash to the special marriage bureau to pick up the licence which would allow us to get married at any chapel we chose in the city. Again I had the feeling that we were in a movie as there we were, two people who were so in love, trying to evade the paparazzi and prevent anyone finding out what we were up to. It was like
Mission: Impossible
meets a rom-com! We had already looked at a selection of chapels online back home. There are so many to choose from but if you don’t want a traditional venue you can even get married on top of the ‘Eiffel Tower’, overlooking the Strip! But we were keeping things simple. We had chosen the wedding chapel called the Lilac Salon at the luxurious Wynn Hotel. When we stopped off at the hotel to check it out, after getting the marriage licence, we were really impressed by the venue – it was beautiful, and so romantic. I couldn’t wait to walk up the aisle, which was lined with gorgeous bouquets of white flowers, and say, ‘I do!’ Now we just had to get the rings and our wedding outfits. We literally went into the first jeweller’s shop that we came to on Sunset Strip and bought the rings in a matter of minutes.

The following day we had just five hours before the wedding ceremony at 4 o’clock in which to choose our outfits. In the first menswear shop we tried, Alex bought his outfit – white shirt, trousers and shoes. He looked so handsome. So then it was my turn, but when we went into a boutique I couldn’t see anything I liked and the clock was counting down. I ended up popping into a sex shop as I thought they were bound to have a short white dress. ‘It is Vegas after all,’ I thought, ‘anything goes.’ I found a dress, and with it I bought a pair of diamanté high heels. We were on the way back to the hotel to get ready when I spotted a wedding dress store. ‘Stop the car!’ I called out. ‘I want to see if there’s anything for me in there.’ While I didn’t want a big white number, the little white dress I’d just bought didn’t seem special enough.

We dashed into the store and I told the assistant that I had to get a dress, like now! So she quickly pulled out a few for me, but they were all full-on wedding dresses, which weren’t what I wanted at all. Maybe it would have to be the short white number after all? But then Gary held up a dress and said, ‘What about this one?’ It was a similar style to dresses I’ve worn in the past and I instinctively knew it would suit me. It was a simple, long, fitted white dress with sequins. Yes, even though I wanted simple, I still wanted sparkle! ‘Grab me a Small,’ I told him. Then I saw a veil and asked the assistant to steam it for me to get rid of the creases. And that was it! I didn’t even try the dress on! We were having such fun getting married this way. There was no agonising over expensive designer outfits, venues, guest lists, catering, cakes and all the other baggage that comes along with a big wedding. Because we were keeping it small we were free to think about what our wedding day was really about – just us expressing our love and commitment to each other.