Katie Price rocked by kids’ death threats

She’s the driving force behind a huge campaign to make online abuse a criminal offence, but that’s done little to deter vile online trolls from attacking Katie Price's family.

Last week, a fresh torrent of abuse was aimed at her kids, with son Junior, 15, revealing he’d received death threats online, and his disabled older brother Harvey, 18, also targeted by the same account.

Junior shared a screenshot of the horrific comments he received, which branded him an ‘ugly b-----d’. He added the caption, “People like this” alongside weary-faced emojis. The troll shockingly went on to tell Junior and Harvey to take their own lives.

In public, Katie appeared unperturbed by the vicious trolling and last week continued to post pictures of her children to her Instagram account, which has 2.4m followers, including one with daughter Princess, 13, with a full face of make-up alongside sister Bunny, six.

This attracted further cruel comments online, with one critic writing, “I hope she doesn’t turn out like her vile mother,” and another posting, “She’s completely average. It’s amazing what social media has forced the public believe this is what beauty looks like. She’s 13 and HEAVILY influenced and ‘dressed up’ by mum, that’s all.”

But pals reveal Katie, 42, is rocked by the fact her children have been attacked online and feels she’s “letting the trolls win” if she stops posting pictures of them, or allowing them to have their own social media accounts.

A source says, “She’s stressed and angry. She really fears what’s coming next for her kids as she knows nothing will stop the trolls picking on them. But this is Katie, she won’t let anyone win or stop her. Rather than stop sharing pics, she thinks it’s for the guilty party to be held accountable. She believes the best way of protecting her kids is stopping trolls by legal force.”

In 2019, Katie won the backing of a parliamentary committee to make online abuse a crime. Harvey’s Law is a proposed law that would make it illegal to troll or abuse others online. It also proposes a register of known trolls to be made available to the public.

Last month she begged for attacks on her family to end, saying, “It has to stop. It doesn’t just happen with Harvey, it happens with everyone. Whether you’re an MP, a doctor, if you’re gay, straight, your race, anything – people are just trolling and it’s getting out of hand.”

The source says, “This campaign is very close to her heart so she’s not going to back down now. The hate directed at her family just makes her more determined to get Harvey’s Law rubber-stamped. She’ll keep posting to prove her point, the trolls won’t win. She also knows the kids are actually better equipped than she is at social media. They know how to block and how to set time limits on their apps. They’re also aware of what tends to invite cruel comments.”

After being targeted last week, Junior reached out to friends of the troll on social media saying, “I don’t want any anger or abuse directed at him (the troll) but could someone please tell this brave boy’s mum and dad what he’s up to? Also maybe his teachers. Maybe then he’ll learn you shouldn’t abuse defenceless people online.”

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The source says, “Junior is totally aware that being in the public eye means he’s open to ridicule. Unlike Katie, her kids have grown up with social media. They have a better management of it than most grown-ups. Junior’s response was very polite and well-mannered. He knows it’s best to act maturely.”

Last June, the mum-of-five allowed Princess to create her own Instagram account and YouTube channel when she turned 13, but on the proviso she had her pages monitored by Katie and her dad Peter Andre.

At the time, Katie predicted that Princess, who has grown up in front of the camera in both parents’ reality TV shows, would be a “YouTube sensation”. She added Pete “wasn’t too pleased” about her having a personal account, but he agreed to go ahead if Princess’ posts were checked first.

And Katie – who last week landed a role on Channel 4 daytime show, Steph’s Packed Lunch, continues to monitor her daughter’s account closely.

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The pal says, “Katie and Pete both monitor Princess’ social media. Katie sometimes tells Princess to turn the comments off if she sees negative ones. She will do anything she can to protect them, it’s just part of modern parenting that kids are online, but she has access to everything before it’s posted.”

Last summer, Pete revealed his concern that Instagram is affecting his daughter Princess’ confidence. Explaining Princess loves to sing, but is too shy to record herself, Pete said he’s worried social media has made her overly self-conscious.

“This is where I get scared of social media is because they constantly think, ‘What’s this person gonna say or that person’,” he said. “This is what my concern was with Bista [his nickname for Princess] having a public Instagram, which I didn’t want her to have.”

Katie, however, has always been supportive of it. In 2016 she said, “All their friends have Instagram accounts. They want to be like their friends – I’m trying to make them normal.”

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