Katie Price: why has she been declared bankrupt?

Katie Price was declared bankrupt yesterday after the High Court was told she had failed to stick to a plan to repay her debts.

The Daily Mail says the 41-year-old former model and reality TV personality, who once charged thousands of pounds for a brief personal appearance, had been pursued by creditors and the taxman after revealing she has splashed her entire £45 million fortune.

Judge Jonathan Middleton, sitting at the specialist insolvency and companies court, said: “I do judge Ms Price to be bankrupt. The date is today and the time is 12:35. Ms Price isn't present or represented so there is, as far as we can identify, no opposition.”

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Price’s problems spiralled after she came to an arrangement with her creditors for a repayment plan known as an Individual Voluntary Arrangement last year.

Also known as an IVA, it is a formal agreement that lets people with debt repay their creditors at an affordable rate in a bid to avoid bankruptcy.

The insolvency practitioner overseeing her IVA said she had failed to keep to the terms of the agreement, which meant renewed bankruptcy proceedings were launched.

The Mirror says the way she lost her fortune was “staggering,” with “surgery, property, luxury holidays, divorces and astronomical staff wages” eating up her funds.

Katie Price commanded a huge fortune during her heyday as one of the most powerful media figures in the UK.

After starting out as a glamour model, she starred in her own reality TV shows, won Celebrity Big Brother and even dabbled in pop music. Price, previously known by the pseudonym Jordan, has also put her name to lingerie, jewellery, perfume, baby clothes and multiple books, including a string of autobiographies.

But in the past few years the mother-of-five has struggled with debt, checked herself into rehab and received two driving bans.

At Bexley Magistrates’ Court in February she was convicted of being nearly twice the alcohol limit while in charge of her pink Range Rover. Police said the 40-year-old was slumped in the back of the car with the key fob, slurring her words in a “very” drunken state in Greenwich, south-east London, on 10 October last year.

The Mirror claims Price's bankruptcy was caused by her expensive lifestyle. The newspaper says she spent £120,000 on housekeepers, gardeners and nannies and had a monthly heating bill of £2,000 “because she keeps it on 24-7”.

Other reported monthly outgoings include “£1,500 for twice-weekly manicures and pedicures, £1,000 on getting her hair done, £800 on massages every other day, £800 on a make-up artist, £400 on facials and £500 on age-reversing treatments”.

There have been signs in recent years of price trying to raise funds. She has been trying to sell off her pink horsebox and a number of her horses and llamas.

Last month, Hello! revealead that she had Instagram posts advertising diet products banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled that the posts were irresponsible.

Creditors are expected to ogle Price's £2m mansion, which has nine bedrooms, a two bedroom annexe, 12 acres of land, a pool, tennis court and stables.

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