Katie Price has shut down claims she broke up with boyfriend JJ Slater after delivering him an ‘ultimatum’.
The former glamour model, 47, and the Married at First Sight star, 32, began dating in 2024, regularly making red carpet appearances together.
They’d also spoken about having children together, adding to the five Katie already has.
However last week it was reported that the pair had split after almost two years together, with a source claiming she gave him an ‘ultimatum’ after ‘pushing for marriage and security’. They also suggested that JJ had ‘checked out’ after he had ‘a lot of pressure put on him’.
A few days on, Katie has hit back at these reports and revealed the real reason for their break-up.
‘I didn’t give him an ultimatum at all. To be honest guys, so me and JJ, our relationship for months wasn’t right, but he’s such a nice guy. I cannot fault him in any way possible. There was no ultimatum,’ she said on the latest episode of her podcast, The Katie Price Show.
‘I think they said the belt because I wouldn’t marry him or have a baby. That is a load of rubbish, absolute rubbish. And if I’m honest I love the guy, but I’m not in love with him.
‘And what’s the point of carrying on a relationship? Yeah the family love him, all the family love him. But I’m the one going out with him. So, it became like a best friend basically. In a relationship you want to have everything, and it just wasn’t there for me. But you know that we actually split up a few months ago.’
Katie went on to share that she waited to see if things ‘would change’, but they ‘never did’.
She continued: ‘There’s no hard feelings, there’s no animosity. I do love JJ though. I’m also older and I don’t want to waste his time, or my time.
‘You know, if I’m not loved up and it’s not going, these are mistakes I’ve made in the past. You stay just go along and then it ends up getting nasty and I don’t want that. So, I’d rather have nipped it in the bud sooner rather than later.’
Katie explained that they’d broken up before Christmas but had still spent the festive season together as plans had ‘already been arranged’.
Sending a final message to her ex, she said: ‘So good luck to him for the future.’
‘But yea, I feel like I’m happy and better for doing it. There’s nothing worse than having been with someone you don’t want to be with.’
Katie went on to say that she felt she ‘had strength nowadays’ and that both she and JJ had ‘not been happy with things’. ‘You try and it’s just not there’.
‘There’s not really anything else to say on it,’ she added.
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After not appearing on each other’s social media accounts in recent months, Katie and JJ had faced break-up rumours. However, he then appeared in her Christmas vlog.
From behind the camera, Katie was asked: ‘Is it nice to be all together at Christmas?’. ‘Love it. It’s nice that we’re all together here. Like, all of us,’ she said. ‘Considering how many people are here, it’s quite calm, isn’t it?’
Katie and JJ began dating following the I’m A Celebrity star’s split from former fiancé Carl Woods.
She has been married three times previously – first, to Peter Andre, with whom she shares children Junior, 20, and Princess, 18.
They divorced in 2009, and Katie tied the knot with Alex Reid just a year later.
Alex and Katie then called time on their relationship in 2012, and she then wed her third husband, Kieran Hayler, in 2013.
They were together until 2021, welcoming children Jett, 12, and Bunny, 11, during their time together.
Katie also has her eldest son, Harvey, 23, whom she shares with ex Dwight Yorke.
JJ appeared on MAFS UK in 2023 and went on to date the show’s first transgender bride, Ella Morgan.
Metro has contacted representatives for JJ Slater for comment.
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