Katie Price Admits She’s Thought About Hiring a Prostitute for Her Autistic Son
Glamour model and TV personality Katie Price (formerly known as “Jordan”) is one of the most polarizing figures in the U.K. She’s a topless model who became famous at just the right point in time to take good advantage of the rise of social media and reality TV to become a huge celebrity. Not many topless models are worth more than $50 million, but Price is.
Katie Price is also a mother. She has five children. Her oldest child is a 15-year-old son, Harvey Price. Harvey is blind and on the autism spectrum, and he also has a medical condition that makes him gain weight and causes cognitive delays. He has mobility difficulties and has problems walking. He has disabilities, but he is also a 15-year-old boy. He’s recently gone through puberty and, according to Price, has been demonstrating sexual urges.
On a UK talk show called Loose Women, Price said she didn’t really know how to handle it.
“Harvey is 15 now. Naturally at 15 you go through puberty, and it’s natural to experiment with yourself,” she said. “He hasn’t got a clue about that side. What do you do, do I leave it?”
Her little boy isn’t little anymore.
Price said it like a joke, but it sounds a bit like a real question she has probably been struggling with. How do you handle that situation? Caring for a small child with special needs is different than caring from a full-grown adult with special needs. Harvey is already well over a foot taller than his mother. This is a situation that will come up for caregivers like Price, which the armchair quarterbacks of the parenting world might not have considered.
Katie Price shocked people when she joked on the show that she and her husband had talked about whether or not they should hire a prostitute for Harvey when he is an adult. Well, it was a joke, but maybe it’s one of those things that’s only half a joke. Harvey is Price’s oldest child, so everything that happens with him is uncharted territory for her.
A lot of people seemed to think that even considering the possibility was tantamount to child abuse.
https://twitter.com/lauraloves83/status/885218837666443264
No no no that is not good parenting. Call social services
— Georgina (@Georgin78577291) July 12, 2017
Price says it was her husband who actually floated the idea of hiring a prostitute when Harvey is much older, and her reaction was, “But that’s my little Harvey!”
Katie Price not the first parent to think about this, and she won’t be the last.
On the show, Price was actually speaking to another woman whose son is on the autism spectrum–though higher functioning than Harvey–and the other woman said she’d had the same thoughts when her son was younger.
This is a thing that parents think about, though. Katie Price’s son will be an adult man in a few years, but his medical issues mean he will still need her to care for him. It’s reasonable that his recently developing sexual habits would make her think, “Do I ignore this? Is this something I need to help him with? What is best for him? What the hell do I do here?”
It’s not unreasonable that one of her questions would be whether or not she should hire a sex worker. One can imagine her thinking that if her son needed physical therapy, she’d get that for him, so should she figure out how to get this for him as well? Sex work is a skill and a service. Price was a sex worker herself, so one presumes she doesn’t think sex work is inherently immoral.
Harvey is just 15, so Price has years to consider his physical, mental, and social development as well as his wants and needs. She may well decide hiring a sex worker is not appropriate, but she’s not the first parent to worry about this, and she won’t be the last.
(Image: Instagram / OfficialKatiePrice)
