In the latest bizarre turn of events in Katie Price’s life, the TV personality has claimed that her husband of four months has disappeared – and potentially been “kidnapped”.
Former glamour model Price, 47, shocked her fans, family and friends back in January by marrying her fourth husband, Dubai-based businessman Lee Andrews, having met him just days before.
Since then, their marriage has faced its challenges, from Andrews admitting that he lied about studying at the University of Cambridge to the couple attempting a long-distance relationship. Now, Price has revealed that she’s reported Andrews as missing, having not heard from him in five days.
After promising to visit Price in the UK and appear on Good Morning Britain with her, the businessman failed to show on the ITV programme and never arrived in the country.
With this story only getting stranger by the day, we’ve broken down everything we know so far about Andrews’ apparent disappearance.
‘He’s a missing person now’
Price raised the alarm over Andrews’ whereabouts for the first time publicly on Saturday (16 May) in a YouTube video. “I don’t really know where to begin but I know there’s all this speculation about Lee from when I met him,” she said. “Something really, really serious has happened.”
The 47-year-old added that while she had posted to Instagram that Andrews was “taking time out of socials” due to recent trolling, the truth was that he had been missing “for three days”.
“The last time I heard from Lee was Wednesday night at 10pm, he was trying to go through the border in Dubai to get on a flight to me,” she said. “We are wondering if he’s been kidnapped; he’s definitely a missing person now.”
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According to Price, the Criminal Investigation Department in Dubai is looking for Andrews, but “no one can find anywhere in the country that Lee has been detained”.
“We are now wondering, as far-fetched as it is, that he’s a missing person now, I don’t know if he’s been kidnapped,” she added. “No one can find him in any prison, any police station; the police can’t find any record of him.”
She also claimed that Andrews’ hands were tied when she last spoke to him. “He had ties around his hand, not handcuffs, and a hood, and he said, ‘Look, they’re coming back for me,’ that is the last FaceTime call I had,” she said.
“He was in a van, but the windows were white with a mesh. It looked like an old, dirty van.”
The Independent has contacted the Dubai police and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.
The couple were due to appear on Good Morning Britain together on Tuesday (12 May), however, Andrews failed to show up. Price said at the time that Andrews was stuck at the airport, with GMB revealing that after asking the Foreign Office whether Andrews had a travel ban, the public body responded: “We supported a British man who was detained in the UAE.”
When host Ed Balls asked whether Andrews had been arrested, Price responded: “No, I feel like they just said it to me in there [backstage] so I just said to Lee, ‘apparently a British man has been detained, can you confirm it’s not you?’ He’s done a voice note back and said it’s not him and sent laughing emojis.
“He’s at the airport and on his way. He’s coming over to spend quite a few months now, he’s sorting out my visa and my international driving license. He had things to do, didn’t make the flight, because of all his business stuff he has to do.”
She later said on her podcast on Thursday that Andrews had made her “look a massive d***” after standing her up. “If he does make it to England it will shut all the rumours up because at the moment, everyone thinks he’s on a flight ban, this and that. I said it does look weird that you haven’t come to England and I keep going to Dubai,” she added.
However, Price then said in her YouTube video on Saturday that the last time she spoke to Andrews was on Wednesday night, while he was “trying to get through the border at Hatta”.
“His location went off at 10.03pm on Wednesday night, that’s the last contact anyone has had – his family and myself.”
The aftermath
Despite Price asking fans for their help in tracking down her husband, many have been left unconvinced by the ordeal.
“He’s hiding. He knows the game is up,” one wrote in the video’s comments.
Meanwhile, a source told The Sun that Price is “in constant contact with his family” and is “desperately worried”.
“And she’s mortified — she’s seen people calling it a stunt and that she must be in on it, but she’s absolutely not,” they added. “This is such a worrying, upsetting situation.”
While that may be the case, Andrews’ mother has seemingly turned on Price – accusing her of “exploiting” her son’s disappearance.
After facing criticism for sharing her clairvoyant business on Facebook while her son was missing, Trisha Andrews replied to one commenter who wrote: “I think everyone needs to leave her alone as she’s not responsible for Prices drama queen antics [sic].” Andrews responded: “Thank you Jane it’s Katy exployting [sic] And I get all the backlash x”
The Independent has contacted Price for comment.
Price is yet to issue an update since her video on Saturday, however she’s continued posting to her Instagram Stories – with the ex glamour model plugging her OnlyFans account, posting an ad for CBD oil and sharing a selfie with eldest son Harvey during their “evening out”.