Katie’s been talking b******* again!’ As Lee Andrews is ‘found’ in Dubai jail after model claimed he was ‘kidnapped’, her ‘disgusted’ friends tell KATIE HIND of ‘genuine fears’ for her future

As Katie Price’s team of advocates and supporters, their work over the years has been challenging, to say the least.

They have shouldered the former glamorous model through countless bankruptcies, DUI claims, countless surgical procedures, dramatic weight loss, nine engagements, four marriages and three messy divorces.

What about this latest drama? This might be what beats them.

From what I’m told, Katie’s friends and loved ones have had enough.

Because according to Katie, her new husband Lee Andrews, a 41-year-old ‘entrepreneur’ of uncertain origins, is currently missing.

It’s not lacking in the traditional—and some would say predictable—sense, namely marrying a man who ran away less than four months after a hastily arranged wedding, but his wife insists she’s the subject of an international manhunt, kidnapped by unknown persons.

According to Katie, she first became aware that her husband was on the run when he failed to turn up for the couple’s first joint interview on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, May 12, and the mother-of-five was questioned alone by presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls.

It later emerged that Andrews, a billionaire businessman or a deluded con artist depending on who you talk to, may have been detained by police at the airport while trying to leave Dubai, where he has lived for the past 20 years.

And sure enough, today the Daily Mail located Andrews, with his father Peter claiming the businessman had been arrested and locked up in a Dubai prison.

Peter told the Mail: ‘Lee is fine. He was not kidnapped, but he is detained. I don’t know on what charge.

‘I’m not sure where he’s being held. But he’ll call me later today.’

A week after the alleged kidnapping, Katie posted a larger-than-life trailer on Instagram for CBD oil, for which she signed a six-figure deal.

Andrews may have been detained by police at the airport in Dubai while trying to leave the country. He’s lived there for 20 years and it’s where he and Katie got married.

This comes after further intrigue was added to the story this week by former Apprentice contestant Luisa Zissman, who lives in Dubai and is a friend of Andrews. In a Facebook post, he said he noticed Andrews’ social media had been active lately. “This shows that her kidnappers definitely gave her access to social media,” he wrote with some relief.

While Katie didn’t express her gratitude that her husband might be safe and well, she was quick to react with a social post of her own.

‘I have Lee’s Facebook. “It’s not him, it’s me in this matter,” he said rather cheerfully.

If Katie’s friends and family had any doubts before, this latest move has convinced them that Katie is ‘in on this’ and that the kidnapping is actually just another publicity stunt to get attention.

Katie denies Andrews’ disappearance was a ruse. However, I was told that his friends no longer believed a word he said and labeled his claims that Interpol was looking for him ‘a pack of bitches’.

‘The story of him being kidnapped by being tied to the back of a minibus is complete nonsense and we don’t believe it,’ says a friend of mine.

‘Even members of his own family don’t believe him right now. There’s no way Katie doesn’t know where Andrews is.

‘This is really something else. He gets everyone talking, that’s all he wants. He’s been doing this for almost 30 years.’

Most wives would be distraught if their husbands were missing for 11 days, but Katie, who has never followed the traditional route, saw an opportunity, friends say.

He recently signed a six-figure deal to promote CBD oil, a legal dietary supplement derived from marijuana or hemp plants and used to regulate mood and sleep, and has been promoting it on his social media platforms.

A week after the alleged kidnapping on May 19, she posted a surreal video on TikTok of her lying in bed with her hair wrapped in a towel, saying: ‘Wow, what a week I’m having. “I just took a bath, I really need to relax,” he said. ‘I really feel confident in my CBD oil.’

The video received nearly 30,000 ‘likes’ but left many confused.

“Girl, it’s not commercial time, we need answers,” one follower wrote.

Another joked: ‘I’m scared it’ll be my turn to marry her.’

But his friends and family couldn’t see the funny side of the incident. One called it a ‘disgusting cheap shot’.

‘Who would do this when her husband is missing?’ said a horrified colleague of Katie’s.

Then on Thursday, Katie suffered yet another reversal when she announced on The Katie Price podcast that she was taking a step back from the spotlight ‘for the sake of her own mental health’.

But that didn’t stop him from pulling off one last promotional campaign on Instagram on Thursday night; this time she offered ’40 percent off all orders with my code Katie40′.

Lee’s mother Trisha is said to be ‘seething’ after Katie revealed Lee was kidnapped without telling his family

Katie’s first husband Peter Andre is with their daughter Princess this week. It is said that the Princess is calmer about this situation than her brother Junior, while Peter is ‘very angry’.

Katie Hind said her friends, family and co-workers all think Katie is too weak physically and her mental health isn’t in a good place right now.

They told me Lee’s family, including her mother Trisha and sister Kelly, who works as a medium, were ‘deeply angered and upset’ by the news that Katie had been kidnapped without telling them.

Trisha, 61, is said to be boiling. Under a Facebook post promoting his new psychic show, one fan wrote: ‘I think everyone should dump him [Trisha] He’s on his own as he’s not responsible for Price’s drama queen antics.’

Trisha replied: ‘Thank you. ‘This is exploiting Katie and I’m taking all the blame.’

Katie stunned everyone in her social circle in January when she married Andrews at the One and Only Royal Mirage hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah Island, her fourth wedding.

Meanwhile, his friends and family were deeply worried. Who was this dashing young suitor, with her stunning veneers and mahogany skin that would sweep her off her feet?

Their fears increased when claims that he was a billionaire with a PhD from Cambridge did not come true.

Four months later, little is still known about Andrews; Except, as the Daily Mail explains, he is the son of a coal miner.

Friends who grew up with Andrews in the small village of Edwinstowe on the edge of Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire remember him as a lad with big ideas and a hunger for luxury living.

‘He didn’t want to stay there,’ someone says. ‘He had big ambitions beyond Edwinstowe. He dreamed of having a bigger, glamorous life. He wanted to be rich too.”

Meanwhile, I can tell you that Katie’s son Junior, the second eldest son from her marriage to singer-turned-reality star Peter Andre, 53, is ‘fed up’ with his mother’s antics.

Described as ‘extremely logical and level-headed’, the 20-year-old remained loyal to his troubled mother. But the events of the past week have really tested her patience and she is said to be very angry.

Meanwhile, Katie’s 18-year-old daughter Princess appears to be a little calmer about the situation; Those who know him say: ‘He loves his mother, he always will, but of course this is very difficult for her.’

But Katie’s first husband, Peter, is less sympathetic.

According to those who know him, Peter doesn’t have much of a problem with Lee Andrews – he’s already used to the car-crash love life of the mother of his eldest children – but he’s furious at the timing of the drama.

Because I’m told there’s a very sad domestic issue going on in the family right now, and everyone thinks it should be the focus of Katie’s attention.

‘There’s a lot of anger from people close to her because there are bigger things in her life that should be her real priority rather than getting caught up in the circus that is her marriage.’

As well as this extremely sensitive development, friends tell me that Katie’s mother Amy, who has dedicated her life to looking after her disabled grandson Harvey, now 23, is in a ‘very, very bad’ condition in hospital with the fatal lung disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

He underwent a life-changing lung transplant in 2023 but still struggles with his health.

‘Amy is very sick and where is Katie? She makes videos and appears on television to defend her husband, you can’t make up for that,’ says a family friend.

I’ve yet to speak to anyone connected to Katie who doesn’t think whatever happens to Andrews will end very badly for the star.

My friends, family and co-workers say he is very weak physically and his mental health is not in a good place right now.

A friend of mine says, ‘Talk to everyone who knows Katie.’ ‘There are real fears about his health. He won’t stop having surgery. Literally one anesthesia away from death. It’s sad but he doesn’t listen.’

Today was Katie’s 48th birthday, and it passed without even hearing from her husband. However, there was more activity on Instagram when he appeared to be ‘following’ a dazzling mystery woman and Katie feared he had set his sights on a new target.

More stage management from Katie or a puzzle solved? The next chapter of Katie Price’s life drama won’t be far away.

But according to friends, one TV series may be too much.