Why Peter Andre’s driving Katie Price’s race to marry Love Island toyboy Carl

She swore off men at the start of the year and insisted she wanted to focus on herself after a rehab stint, telling Closer in April she didn’t want to “rush into” meeting a man or having a baby, adding her mindset was “very different now”.

But just three months later, Katie went public with new boyfriend Carl Woods. And jaws dropped last week when she told her Instagram followers he’d proposed, after sharing a snap of a diamond on her ring fingerand praising him, saying, “Knowing @carljwoods will be the last man I want to spend the rest of my life with is an understatement!”

The mum of five, 42, told fans that former Love Island star Carl, 31, had popped the question, writing, “Omg @carljwoods just proposed to me I said yes”, before going back on her claims, the next day saying, “Last night fun with @paulisthejoker, not really engaged just comedy fun.”

Fans were quick to comment, with one posting “Wouldn’t surprise me if they were engaged to be honest” and another writing, “Here we go again!”

While the engagement was a prank, there have been reports the pair are house-hunting in Essex for a place to move in together, after a month of dating.

Katie has had a string of whirlwind engagements and weddings. After splitting fromfirst husband Peter Andre, 47 – with whom she shares Junior, 15, and Princess, 13 – in 2009, she wed cage fighter Alex Reid, 45, just five months after her divorce.

She then got engaged to Leandro Penna, 34, in April 2012, before her engagement to third husband Kieran Hayler, 33, in December that year, after being with him for just six weeks. The pair – who share Jett, seven, and Bunny, six – split after five years of marriage in 2018.

Before their divorce was finalised, she got engaged to on-off boyfriend Kris Boyson last summer, after less than a year of dating. They split five months later.

TAKE A LOOK: Katie Price's husbands and boyfriends - what happened next?

Katie has so far only joked about saying yes to Carl, but it is a possibility. Closer’s psychological therapist Emma Kenny believes her desire to get married stems from her insecurities.

She says, “People who have multiple whirlwind engagements are often in love with the feeling of being in love. If they have an ongoing pattern of engagement, marriage and divorce multiple times in a short time, they likely get their self-validation from being loved, as traditionally, marriage says someone is in love with you.

“With Katie, she’s so desperate to feel adored and to prove to the world she is wanted that she falls into a cycle of engagements, marriages, and splits. If there’s no real foundation and connection there, which often takes time to build, it’s less likely to work.”

Katie admitted last year that she loves the idea of marriage and a happy-ever -after, saying, “I can’t wait [to marry again]. I want that Prince Charming, to be with him forever. I thought Kieran was forever. I thought they all were. I want to look at someone and not have my head turned… I had that with Pete.”

Over the years, Katie has made a few comments about her first marriage to Pete. As well as calling him “the love of her life”, she said earlier this year, “I would have stayed married to the first one. I believe in getting married and staying with them forever.”

Emma says, “Katie’s first experience of marriage was with Pete. I think that, with him, she had a good, solid marriage and a true relationship, where they both really loved each other. That broke down and, as Katie admits, she was heartbroken.

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"She was then married less than a year after her divorce from him. I also think she wants to prove she’s over Pete and her other past lovers. I think she was trying to replicate that happiness and those feelings have driven her obsession with marriage since. What says she’s moved on more than marrying someone else?

“She still seems desperate to prove she is loveable and perhaps that she wasn’t the problem in her past marriage breakdowns. It’s like she wants to convince people that there wasn’t anything wrong with how she was in those past relationships, and that she does have the ability to have a happy, stable marriage.”

Katie has often courted the attentions of younger men, forging friendships with reality stars Scotty T, 32, and Chris Hughes, 27, and DJ Tom Zanetti, 31, as well as briefly dating builder Charles Drury, 22, last year. She had a fling with singer Gareth Gates, now 35 – taking his virginity when he was 17.

Watch: Scotty T spills the tea on his relationship with Katie Price

Emma adds, “Katie has a low opinion of men. She expects they’ll let her down, so perhaps feels she may as well crack on with younger, good-looking ones who make her feel amazing. Her whole career has been built on the way she looks and clinging on to her youth is probably as much a business decision as it is an emotional choice. Women are often attracted to toyboys as they like the vitality a younger man brings – it’s exciting. It’s also a way of overcoming her secret fear of getting older.”

After divorcing Katie, Pete married doctor Emily MacDonagh, 30, in 2015, and the couple – who have their own YouTube channel showing their happy family life – share children Amelia, six, and Theo, three.

And Emma adds that Pete’s happiness in his second marriage and family life could also be contributing to her obsession with getting engaged.

She says, “Pete’s successful relationship, marriage, and family may also be a driving factor in Katie’s constant race to settle down again. I think she sees the life he’s made, with Emily and his new children, and wants to have that too. She wants the happy ending, like she’s admitted, and I do think an element of that is down to the fact Pete has found his.”

And Katie revealed she’d broken both her feet in a “silly little accident” on her recent holiday to Turkey, after jumping over a wall and landing badly. On returning to the UK, the wheelchair-bound star visited a specialist surgeon and consultant in London. She didn’t elaborate, but told fans, “After further scans, the news is absolutely devastating. I’m gutted.” Reports later claimed Katie’s recovery could take up to two years and she won’t be able to walk or put any weight on her feet.

Katie’s rep told Closer, “She’s having surgery on her feet. The injuries are more serious and the extent of her recovery is going to take longer than first thought. She’s going to continue working but there’s a long road ahead.”

Read the juiciest celeb stories in Closer magazine each week.