KATIE Price has spoken out about panic attacks and dealing with fame for most of her life.

The 43-year-old featured on an episode of Simon Thomas' podcast Life, Interrupted, which was recorded in April 2021.

Katie has been in the spotlight since she was just 17 when she became a glamour model under the name Jordan in 1996.

In the podcast she spoke about the negative side of her fame and how she has struggled for many years with panic attacks.

As a child Katie had been a keen swimmer and even swam for Sussex, she spoke of how one day she was training and had her first panic attack.

She said: "I remember swimming and my body went paralysed, and I remember holding onto the ropes and shouting out for help because I felt like I was being dragged under the water."

Katie went on to say that from then she had regular panic attacks and nightmares of drowning.

"So ever since then, I was 15/16, panic attacks, they tap you on the shoulder. Obviously people have had them, they would know what I mean, when it sort of taps you on the shoulder to let you know it’s there and it gives you that feeling," she added.

"And with me, my hands, because I hyperventilated so much, my hands would go and I’d have to breathe in a bag. It’s quite scary because you think you’re gonna die when you have a panic attack."

The Argus: Katie and her son Harvey featured in a BBC documentary earlier this yearKatie and her son Harvey featured in a BBC documentary earlier this year

Katie said that as she got older she would attempt to talk herself out of the attacks and tell herself that it would not last long.

She is well known for her many TV appearances, including ITV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2004, and she spoke of how some challenges were triggering for her.

Katie said: "When we were underground, and there was water rising up it would make me really panic."

On the show, Katie met her now ex-husband Peter Andre, whom she married in 2005.

She spoke about how after their split in 2009 the media portrayed her in a negative light and as being "hard"..

"But, I'm not at all, I'm the biggest softie and caring person," she said. "I'd do anything for anyone."

Katie added: "The media they just try to destroy you and make you how they want you to be. I definitely had that for ten years when I split with Peter. It all turned as if I was the bad one.

"I can't tell you how damaging the past ten years have been for my mental health, and it's kind of like you're drowning there's more stories coming out and you're just trying to get up for air."

She went onto say that the negative media attention has lead to the public having a perception of what she is like.

Katie said: "People create a perception of what they think you're like and it's suffocating. People judge me by the media and I know that every time people meet me they're like 'you're so different to what I thought you'd be like'."

Last week it was reported that Katie had suffered a facial injury during a suspected assault at her home in Essex.

She then left social media as online trolls claimed her injuries were from recent surgery and that her busted lip was a cold sore.

A source told the Sun: "She's thinking of jetting off for a few days away next month to get some time and space."

The 43-year-old pulled out of appearing at the British LGBT Awards on Friday after deciding she was not up to it.

To help her recovery she spent the bank holiday with family and close friends.

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