Katie Price planning magical 'Christmas proposal' to MAFS boyfriend JJ Slater
As Katie Price prepares to celebrate her first Christmas as an official couple with boyfriend John Joe 'JJ' Slater, a source tells new that she’s seriously considering delivering a very special present - a marriage proposal. The 46-year-old former glamour model has had another extremely dramatic year - featuring an arrest warrant, a bankruptcy hearing and the arrival of her ‘twin’ dolls - not to mention, her relationship with her younger man, MAFS star JJ, which seems to have gone from strength to strength.
Despite once describing a Christmas Day proposal as a “cliche”, our source says Katie thinks it would be the perfect way to spread a bit of festive cheer. “It’s their first Christmas together as an official couple and Katie wants it to be really special and magical - to make a really big deal of it,” they claimed. “She absolutely loves Christmas. It’s a really special time for her, especially with the kids."
They continued, “It’s also about new horizons and she really wants to do something big to show how happy she is with where she’s at in her life - a proposal to JJ would be perfect for that, so she is really considering it.”
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The 2024 diary of the mum of five has been a busy one, kicking off just a few weeks after she split from her ex fiancé Carl Woods, after a tumultuous three years of on-off drama. On an episode of The Katie Price Show that came out in early January, Katie confirmed her newly-single status and declared "The Price is back!".
Not long after, she was seen getting cosy with clothing brand entrepreneur JJ, 31, and in February gushed publicly about him “ticking every box” and saying her meeting “real gentleman” JJ was fate.
According to our source, their relationship is a world apart from some of her past ones, and she has no intention of losing what they’ve got. Her best pal Kerry Katona has also given him her blessing, saying she “hopes it works out for them”, and her kids - Harvey, 22, Junior, 19, Princess, 17, Jett, 10, and Bunny, nine - appear to have welcomed JJ into the family fold, if their social media snaps of family time are anything to go by.
“Obviously, she’s been married and engaged before but this is the first time she’s really felt more in control in a relationship and by proposing, she’ll be firmly in the driving seat,” the source claimed. “JJ is getting the best version of Katie at the moment, she’s in the best place she’s been in for a long time. Her regular therapy is making huge changes to the way she lives her life and how she feels.”
Katie recently opened up about her difficult relationship history - which includes marriages to Alex Reid, Peter Andre and Kieran Hayler - revealing she’d never been in a 'healthy' relationship and was “never in control of relationships” before, until now. She also told BBC presenter Louis Theroux that she’d been having individual therapy and had also been on a relationship course, to help her create healthier boundaries and spot what she sees as “red flags”
Now, our source says, the work has paid off and Katie is ready - and happy - to be the one taking the lead in her relationship with JJ. “She’s never had a relationship like this before, it’s still quite new for her but there’s no doubt she’s happy in it,” they claimed. “Her family, who have seen her go through so much in the past, know that a Christmas proposal is a big possibility because of the way she’s feeling at the moment.”
Katie’s kids - and her mum and sister - are relieved to see things with JJ have lasted, our source adds. Yet, as much as they like JJ, they don’t want to see Katie race down the aisle a fourth time, only for it to all end in disaster.
“They like JJ and he seems to make Katie really happy, so they’d support it,” they said. “They don’t have an issue with JJ per se but they know that she can sometimes get caught up with the romance in the moment. They also know there’s nothing they could say that would change her mind anyway. JJ’s family can see that he’s happy too, but they see there’s a bit of an age-gap and they’ve had very different life experiences, Katie’s relationship history doesn’t fill them with confidence."
They added: “JJ is just a nice guy and he has a good heart. His family do worry that if it were to go the same way as some of her previous relationships, he would be left incredibly hurt. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he does have feelings, and his heart is generally in the right place and of course that makes her family happy.”
