Anyone familiar with Katie Price knows she finds it hard to keep things to herself.

This tendency to share too much is often summed up with the phrase, “cannot hold her own water,” a sentiment echoed by friends who note her frequent oversharing about personal matters.

Recently, however, Price made an announcement that has left both her fans and family utterly stunned.

The internet went into a frenzy yesterday after the glamour model took to Instagram, posting an extensive message claiming she’s expecting a baby with her new husband, Lee Andrews, just weeks after their whirlwind nuptials in Dubai.

In her post, Katie declared that she and Lee “are soon to be three,” punctuated with a pregnant woman emoji.

The message was directed at Lee’s former partner, Alana Percival, who has accused Lee—who claims to be a billionaire and a Cambridge University graduate—of deceiving his own father and leaving others dependent on him after taking everything from them.

Whatever the truth or otherwise of those claims, Katie’s news inevitably left her friends, family and fans wondering if she is indeed pregnant.

I’m told she isn’t, but the truth behind her post is even more concerning.

Friends of the 47-year-old mother-of-five tell me that she is ‘beyond desperate’ to have another baby, so much so that she and Lee have already begun IVF treatment.

Katie Price sent the internet into meltdown when she claimed in a long Instagram post that she is ‘having a baby’ with new husband Lee Andrews, just weeks after their whirlwind wedding

But what has really baffled those who know the former Page 3 girl is that after she jetted off to the Middle East to be with her new man, she has been apart from her two youngest children. She also has Princess and Junior with pop star ex Peter Andre and of course, eldest son Harvey with former Manchester United star Dwight Yorke.

One friend said: ‘The whole thing is an absolute nightmare. Katie is spiralling and things have become very worrying. She’s desperate for a baby: it’s literally the only thing on her mind at the moment, so she has already begun the process of IVF. She’s only been married a few minutes but once Katie has decided she wants to do something, she does it.

‘It’s terrifying, she has got five other children who need her but it’s like she has left all of that behind for the time being and taken herself to Dubai to start afresh.

‘Katie has got children right now at home in the UK, and some of them really very worried about her.’

Katie attempted IVF while she was with an ex-boyfriend, reality television star JJ Slater, and she even managed to make her journey into a documentary for Channel 4. However, her dream came crashing down when the treatment failed.

Of her existing brood, Harvey is now 23, and lives in a residential care home after he was born septo-optic dysplasia, a rare disorder that causes blindness and affects brain development. He was also diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome – a genetic disorder causing complex needs, obesity, constant hunger and autism.

After Katie and Peter Andre split in 2009, they initially shared custody of Junior, now 20, and Princess Tiaami, 18, although they eventually went to live permanently with Peter from 2018 because life with Katie in her infamous ‘Mucky Mansion’ in West Sussex was so chaotic.

Lee, a self-proclaimed billionaire, proposed to Katie at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – supposedly in exactly the same way that he asked his ex Alana Percival to marry him last year

Worryingly, Katie is choosing to ignore the red flags – though her nearest and dearest have been loud and clear about their concerns. Her friends are refusing to buy into the relationship

I’m told that Junior and Princess, both of whom are forging their own careers, are now ‘terribly worried’ about their mother, who they love and adore despite her often bizarre behaviour. Katie has been in touch with them while she has been in Dubai but they were as shocked as everyone else in their mother’s circle when she revealed she had got engaged to the maverick Lee.

‘This a time when Katie should be worrying about Junior and Princess, not to mention the others, but instead she is worrying about having another baby,’ says a friend. ‘Surely she wouldn’t be able to cope with a newborn, she looks extremely fragile at the moment and has done for some time.’

Those who know Katie say that she has fallen for Lee, or at least the idea of being married (he is her fourth husband after Peter, cage fighter Alex Reid and most recently Kieran Hayler).

Just last month Katie boasted of her engagement on Instagram when she posted pictures showing flowers spelling, ‘Will you marry me?’ at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa hotel. Days later, she and Lee tied the knot at a nearby hotel, The One & Only Mirage.

Their big day prompted some of his former girlfriends to come forward to share their experiences. His most recent ex Alana said she had got engaged to him at the same venue – the Burj Khalifa – last September in the same way with a proposal in flowers. And two weeks before that, another ex of Lee’s, Texan nurse Crystal Janke, believed Lee was going to ask her to marry him there, too.

Crystal said: ‘I was supposed to meet Lee at the Burj Khalifa two weeks before he proposed to Alana. We’d looked at rings, he told me he wanted to marry me. Luckily, I had to cancel the trip because I was too busy with work. He would have proposed to both of us. Who does that?’

Worryingly, Katie is choosing to ignore the red flags – though her nearest and dearest have been loud and clear about their concerns. The star’s friends are refusing to buy into the relationship. ‘We don’t like him,’ one pal tells me. ‘Nothing about him makes sense, but nobody can get through to Katie, she won’t be told on this. We don’t think he is a good man. It is a bloody nightmare.

‘And now what is so terrifying is we just don’t know what on earth is going to happen next – and the worry is that it isn’t going to be good.’