Katie Price has revealed that she was brutally raped at gunpoint, which left her tormented to the point of suicide in a new Channel 4 documentary set to air tomorrow (September 8).
The 44-year-old icon opened up about the harrowing last five years of her trouble life for the first time, in a bid to explain her worrying and erratic behaviour to her fans.
The mum of five was so overcome by a carjacking and rape in South Africa, that she 'knocked herself out and gave herself two black eyes' in a desperate attempt at suicide.
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The Mirror reports that luckily she was saved, and is now speaking to promoted her new documentary Katie Price: Trauma and Me. She said: "The experience when I was filming with ITV in South Africa we had no security, if we had security they would have helped when the six guys jumped out, held me at gunpoint and raped me."
In her candid fly on the wall documentary, the ex-glamour model looks back on her darkest moment during a battle with PTSD after the 2018 incident. She also speaks about ex-husbands (refusing to name them directly) and the moments she looked at herself in the mirror before facing jail.
She also reveals that she tried to take her one life at a time, as she says, when 'no-one knew how bad I was'.
She added: "After years of neglect, I suffered a mental breakdown in 2018. I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Katie says during a voiceover on the show. I hit severe depression a couple of years ago, depression on top of PTSD, I was suicidal, didn't want to be here. I tried to kill myself. I knocked myself out and had black eyes. I had bruises around my neck.
"I woke up. I didn't want to be here."
Katie was filming for a reality TV show in 2018 when she was hit by the horrifying car-jacking ordeal, and while the star previously said that while a lot of the crew had left through the incident - struggling to deal with it - she carried on filming.
Unfortunately, the police were never able to catch the offenders - and Katie said that the life-changing event left her needing therapy for trauma. Reflecting on notes from her first stint in rehabilitation centre The Priory in her new documentary, Katie looks at a mind-map where she previously wrote she didn't want to be alive anymore.
She said: "That's how bad I was and no-one knew how bad I was."
Thankfully, Katie's suicide attempt was unsuccessful and gave her a sharp reawakening to seek help. She continued: "All I saw was the kids faces, I didn't want that to ever happen again. Mental health is cruel, it's horrible when you go through stuff.
"There's still hurdles to get over."
Reflecting on what triggered her battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Katie said: "I got held at gunpoint in South Africa, I thought we were all going to die. I've had horrific relationship with guys. All the stuff that has happened to me as a kid until now.
"I got raped in a park when I was seven, it goes back from then."
Katie speaks openly about her ongoing battle with mental health with hopes that it will give others the courage to seek professional help, adding in a chat with The Mirror: "There's a stigma that if you're in The Priory you're a wrong'un. Where I think people going to The Priory are brave because they are facing their demons. Facing whatever their problem is to make them a better person."
Katie now sees a therapist every two weeks, and with strong support, she has changed her outlook on life and the way that she reacts to difficult situations and circumstances. "Unfortunately I did get into that place and I will never get into that place again," she said. "It's real, it happens and it did happen to me."
Katie explained: "I talk to my older kids about everything. I want them to know mental health is an illness, it's like any other illness and you can't see it."
The television personality details her stints in The Priory, the first in 2018 where she was battling suicidal thoughts after hitting 'rock bottom'. And Katie says she doesn't shy away from telling her children she had to seek professional help to tackle her demons.
She said: "I said to the children being in The Priory, when you are sitting round in a circle you hear some people's stories and you think 'are you only in the Priory for that, that's a breeze'.
"If you have lived with what has happened to me, you won't be able to cope. So it doesn't matter how big or small a problem is, it's just different.
"Now I've got to say hopefully my kids won't suffer mental health issues, but you can never say they won't. Anything can happen."
Mother-of-five Katie says it was her love for children which gave her a sharp reawakening to confront her troubles head on, and vows to never get into such a dark place again. Highlighting how depression can affect anyone, she added: "Unfortunately I did get into that place and I will never get into that place again. It's real, it happens and it did happen to me."
Now seeing a therapist once every two weeks, Katie, who is proud mum to Harvey, 20, Junior, Princess, Jett, nine, and Bunny, eight, says she is in a better place.
"I've just been on holiday to Spain with all my kids, you can not get a tighter knitted family, " she said.
- If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch
Katie Price: Trauma And Me airs on Thursday 8 September at 9pm on Channel 4.
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