Posting a picture of his wife Emily MacDonagh wearing a floor-length white dress, while he opted for a smart two-piece navy suit, on a romantic date last week, it’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 10 years since Peter Andre wed for the second time.
Six years after his toxic and painful divorce from ex Katie Price, aka “Jordan”, Pete, 50, and Emily, 33, married at a sprawling country estate in 2015. And today, the Mysterious Girl singer says he credits their friendship as the secret to their long-lasting marriage.
He tells Closer, “We’re really good friends, and I honestly believe friendship is key. We were friends for two years before we became a couple.”
And while he says they won’t renew their vows after a decade, romantic Pete adds, “I want to recreate some of it, like some of the night that we had, but as we’re getting there, we’re like, ‘Why don’t we just go away?’”
Before they celebrate, dad-of-four Pete admits he’s had a turbulent time lately after revealing that he is struggling to accept the huge milestones his oldest children – Junior, 18, and Princess, 15 – have reached in recent months.
Last week, after dropping Junior to the airport as he headed for a celebratory birthday trip to Ibiza with friends, doting dad Pete told his Instagram followers, “I was getting that sick sort of feeling in my gut. It’s hard… I’m just having a moment.”
His eldest daughter Princess – who, like Junior, he shares with Katie – will celebrate her 16th birthday next week, and Pete has admitted that he’s already been left plagued with worry after she revealed she has her first proper boyfriend.
He recently said on stage, “By the way, the first boyfriend thing, you’re not missing out on anything. My daughter is going through it and I’m stressing, you would not believe. So that side of it [parenting], it’s not fun.”
Now he admits, “I’m not sure about it at this minute. The first time she mentioned she liked a boy, I remember all those feelings of [dread], but I’ve got to treat her the same way I treated Junior.”
And while they now co-parent – with Princess and Junior mostly residing with Pete and Emily, and their younger siblings Theo and Amelia, at their home in Surrey – Pete admits he has also faced hurdles over Princess’ sometimes elaborate make-up.
In 2010, when Princess was just four, Pete branded it “disgusting” that her mum had allowed her to wear it. But now she is in her teenage years he admits, “When it comes to things like that, every parent will be different.
“Although Princess enjoys make-up, I’m still funny about her posting pictures wearing it as I think she’s a natural beauty. But as I’ve always said, it doesn’t mean I’m right.”
And after signing a contract with retailer PrettyLittleThing earlier this year, Pete reveals he is still strict over what Princess prioritises. “I’ve been very clear from my point of view that she’s got to finish all her GCSEs. With Pretty Little Thing – the deal she’s got with them – is that once every couple of months or whatever, she’ll post a picture of herself in an outfit that she likes, it’s that simple,” he says.
www.prettylittlething.com
“There’s no photo shoots or taking days off school. If it’s simple and it doesn’t interfere with school, then it’s fine. Any of the bigger contract stuff will be after she turns 16, which is only a few weeks away – oh my God!”
As to whether he has any concerns over Princess entering the modelling world, Pete says, “I’ll always have concerns because I’ve seen the good and the bad, but I think as long as you’ve been brought up [well] – hopefully you will take from that.”
Pete also confesses that it’s not just the rapid growing-up of his children that’s making him feel older, despite his still impressive gym-bod, as he jokes that his biggest fans are now grandmothers.
He laughs, “When I was younger, girls used to come up to me and say, ‘I love you!’ And now they come up and say, ‘My nan loves you’.”
However, Pete admits it’s not home-baked cakes that the rowdy crowds are throwing on stage...
“I remember one night someone threw something on stage and it was the biggest pair of knickers that I had ever seen in my life! They were so big that she’d written me her whole life story on there,” he laughs.
“Man, you would be surprised at the kind of things that they say. When we go and do gigs sometimes, and they’ve had a few drinks… Oh my gosh – you get grabbed, I mean, all sorts of things.”
Meanwhile, Pete – who has appeared several times on ITV’s troubled flagship show This Morning – says he’s rooting for the show’s new presenters amid the Phillip Schofield scandal.
He says, “It’s so sad to see all the stuff that’s going on. It’s a really uncomfortable situation for them all.
“I’ve always thought no one can take over from Holly [Willoughby] and Phil, but then you’ve got Alison [Hammond] who is brilliant and Dermot [O’Leary] who I adore, so there are a lot of good presenters out there.”
Peter spoke to Closer at the opening of the UK’s first innovative medical health clinic, The Jorja Emerson Centre in London.