When Peter Andre tied the knot with Katie Price, he pledged to be a father figure to her son Harvey.
The 51-year-old singer met the glamour model on I’m A Celebrity in 2004, and they were married within a year.
At the time, Katie was already a mum to Harvey, whose biological dad, footballer Dwight Yorke, was not in his life. Peter embraced Harvey as his own.
Despite their split and Katie’s subsequent marriages, she has single-handedly raised Harvey and is an incredibly proud mum.
Harvey suffers from several severe conditions, including autism, septo-optic dysplasia, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes constant hunger, reports the Mirror.
Now aged 22 and weighing 28 stone, Harvey’s health is at risk due to his weight. In a recent interview, Katie revealed her fears for Harvey’s life and her plans to put him on weight-loss injections.
She admitted the situation is “really serious” and explained that Harvey is at risk of a heart attack.
Katie Price has spoken candidly about her son Harvey’s weight struggles, telling the Sun: “He’s putting on weight. It doesn’t matter what we do. He can’t put his shoes on without sweating. He can’t walk far because he gets out of breath.”
According to Katie, 46, doctors have advised that Harvey receive injections to aid in his weight loss and improve his overall health, ultimately leading to a longer life.
Throughout the years, Katie has faced numerous challenges in caring for Harvey, including dealing with the absence of his biological father, Dwight. In contrast, her ex-husband Peter Andre has been a constant source of support for Harvey.
In 2005, Peter vowed to be a father figure to Harvey, and in 2009, he proudly declared to the Daily Mail, “I have been a real father of Harvey and he calls me Daddy. I guess that sticks in Dwight’s throat.”
Even after his separation from Katie, Peter continued to show his love and support for Harvey, often sharing heartfelt birthday messages on social media.
In a 2017 column for New! magazine, Peter expressed his enduring affection for Harvey, writing, “There have been a few times recently where he’s been to my house and I’ve been to his. Harvey will always be special to me and I just want him to be happy. He’s a great kid!”
Pete opened up in his column, expressing his affection for Harvey: “He’s such a good-hearted boy, I see him a bit more now, which is amazing. He’s just the best, I love him. There’s always room for Harvey at our house. I always saw him as my own. There’s a special place in my heart for him – he’s very important to me and he’s always welcome.”
But as time passed, Pete appeared to drift from Harvey’s life, prompting Katie to lament on Twitter the absence of male figures for her son: “When you divorce, you have to share the kids. But with Harvey, there’s no one. Well, look, Dwight don’t want to know. Someone else doesn’t see him anymore. He’s just got me, you know?”.
In her book ‘Katie Price: Harvey and Me’ from 2017, the former glamour model delved into how the separation from Pete had a profound effect on Harvey, stating: “The split from Pete really upset Harvey. It must have been frustrating for him at the time because he couldn’t express how he felt. But now he can and he remembers a lot more than you’d think. It’s really sad.”
She remarked that visits from Pete began to dwindle, as she recalled times when Harvey would react negatively to the prospect of visiting Pete, writing: “I began to notice a change in Harvey, I’d say things like, ‘Do you want to go see Daddy Peter today? ‘ and he’d shout, ‘No! ‘ So then I’d be like, ‘But he has a cake waiting for you’. But he wasn’t interested and he’d start kicking off, it’s probably because the visits were starting to fizzle out and Harvey could sense that.”
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The reality TV star admitted that Pete’s name “stresses him out.”
However, she confessed: “Whenever Harvey saw Peter, he wanted to play a clip of the couple singing A Whole New World. Every single time, I want the ground to swallow me up. It’s bad enough having to listen back to it, never mind haven’t to listen back to it standing next to Pete!”.