Katie Price Sent Teenager 'I Will Make You a Little Star' Messages, Rape Trial Hears

Katie Price sent messages to a teenage girl who was allegedly raped by her then-husband, promising to turn her into "a little star," a court has been told, as the trial of Kieran Hayler continued at Lewes Crown Court.

Hayler, a former husband of the well-known television personality, is facing three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. The allegations concern a girl who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged offences, which are said to have taken place in West Sussex in 2016. Hayler denies every charge against him.

The jury was shown a series of messages exchanged between Price and the complainant, who was 14 at the time the correspondence was sent. In the messages, Price stated that she had heard Hayler and the girl had kissed and that he had "tried it on" with her.

Price pressed the teenager for information, writing: "I'm only asking as this is a serious allegation." According to the messages read out in court, the girl responded that it had been "just a flirt thing" and that "nothing happened."

The court also heard that Price asked the girl directly: "Did he kiss you? I won't bring up anymore just want truth. I will make you a little star." The message has become a focal point of the evidence being considered by jurors.

Price further inquired whether Hayler had ever told the girl that he liked her or fancied her. The complainant replied: "Yes, but I took it as a joke," the jury was told.

Under cross-examination, the complainant — who is now an adult — was asked why she had told Price that nothing had happened. She explained that she had been "trying to brush it off," suggesting she was attempting to minimise the situation at the time.

When pressed on what she understood Price to mean by the phrase "I will make you a little star," the woman said she did not respond to the remark. "I don't think I said anything. I think I just ignored it," she told the court.

Defence barrister Arlette Piercy put it to the complainant that the alleged rapes and sexual assault had never taken place. The woman rejected that suggestion firmly, telling the jury: "I would never make it up."

The court also heard evidence about messages the complainant said she exchanged with Hayler. She told jurors that she deleted "I love you" texts after he allegedly instructed her to get rid of them.

Earlier testimony indicated that following the third alleged rape, Hayler sent her a message saying "I love you goodnight," to which she reportedly replied: "I love you too." The prosecution maintains these exchanges are relevant to the nature of the relationship between the accused and the complainant.

Piercy told the court that Hayler does not accept that such messages were ever sent to the complainant. When challenged on this point, the woman said the messages were "deleted, long gone, years ago." Asked directly whether she had been the one to delete them, she answered: "Yes, I did. Kieran Hayler was asking to delete my messages."

The trial has also heard that Hayler was married to Price at the time of the allegations, though their relationship later broke down in 2018 and the couple divorced in 2021. The complainant is not a member of either Hayler's or Price's extended families.

Hayler's defence team has suggested that Price "launched a campaign" against him when the marriage ended, and that the allegations formed part of that campaign. The suggestion is central to the defence's argument that the claims are not credible.

The case continues to draw significant public attention because of Price's high profile as a television personality, author and media figure in the United Kingdom. Her presence in the evidence — even though she is not the defendant — has added a layer of celebrity interest to what remains a serious criminal trial involving allegations of child sexual abuse.

Legal proceedings of this kind often hinge on the reliability of recollections, the interpretation of messages sent years earlier, and the context in which those messages were exchanged. Jurors have been asked to weigh the complainant's account against the defence's assertion that the events described never occurred.

The trial at Lewes Crown Court is ongoing, and further evidence is expected to be heard before the jury reaches a verdict. Hayler continues to deny all charges. Reporting on the case has been supplemented by PA Media.