Love, Lipstick and Lies (27 page)

Of course I wanted to know all about his exes. It’s like I have to torture myself. Deep down I don’t want to know the answer, but I still have to ask the question! I wanted to know all about his ex-girlfriend, and why they split, and who else he’d been out with, and what his type was. I wanted to know all about the competition I faced … And as I was asking all these questions and winding myself up, I thought, Bloody hell, you must really like him! I thought it might be strange for him because he’d know who I’d been married to, and who I’d been out with, but as we talked about our pasts it seemed he didn’t know that much! He hadn’t read any of my autobiographies or watched my TV programmes. But he admitted that he had always fancied me! See, the Pricey still has it. What was more I trusted Kieran and
felt he trusted me. Leo had driven me mad by always wanting to know where I was going and who I was texting. I think he was obsessed with me because he had nothing else happening in his life, and that’s why I felt so suffocated and trapped by him. My life was his life. But with Kieran our relationship is so trusting, I could leave my phone out and he could go through all my texts and it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. And it’s the same for him.

And he actually had a job. OMG! A man I was with actually worked and earned money. So we weren’t joined at the hip, he didn’t rely on me for everything.

Kieran gets up at six every morning to go to work, then he goes to the gym, and then every Saturday night he has his stripping show. So he is the first guy I’ve been with who has kept two jobs. And from thinking that I wanted to be with a guy who had as much money as me, I realised that I liked Kieran having a normal job. Men with money think they can buy you. I’ve been on a few dates with rich men and, to be honest, I’ve always found them more tight-fisted than men who don’t have much money – probably because the guys with less money have to make more of an effort.

I soon discovered that Kieran is also the most romantic guy I’ve ever been out with. He takes me out to dinner and pays, he takes me to the cinema and pays, and he always buys me flowers. Early on he treated me to a box at the musical of
The Bodyguard
. He is always thinking of me. He knows I love different fragrances.
Recently I happened to mention that I couldn’t wait to go to America to get this particular perfume I love called Bijan, because you can only buy it there, and the next thing I knew a bottle of it arrived! He had ordered it for me. It’s little gestures like that which mean so much to me. If I’m ill, when I wake up he’s laid out all the medicines on the pillow next to me. He is so sweet!

So I feel really spoiled by Kieran and I buy nice things for him as well, but I don’t feel that I have to in the way I did with others in the past. I told him that I’ve spoiled every man I’ve ever been with, especially Pete. I bought him watches, clothes, cars. It was the same with Alex and Leo, I bought them clothes, treated them to nights out and holidays, so they never had to put their hand in their pocket. When I met Kieran my friends told me not to buy him anything, but to let him treat me. I told him that I’ve been burned so badly by buying guys everything they want that I’m not going to do it again, but maybe that’s a good thing … Ironically Kieran is the guy who deserves to be treated the most!

And, most important of all, when he met the kids he was brilliant with all of them. He was especially good with Harvey, really patient and calm with him. Kieran’s mum used to do respite foster care for autistic children, so he was used to being around children with special needs. I always feel like he’s backing me up with the children. It’s not that he’s trying to be a father figure, just to support me. For instance, if they don’t do as they’re told, he’ll calmly say, ‘Okay, well, if you don’t go to bed
now, I’ll take your iPad away.’ And it works with them. And whenever we’re getting ready to go somewhere and I’m rushing around, trying to hurry everyone up and shouting, Kieran will stay laidback and quietly get everyone into the car. We complement each other very well.

He seems to have a good grasp of managing his money and is good at saving. When I met him he’d just bought his own place, which I think is impressive for a twenty-six year old. He was really looking forward to moving in, and then of course we got married and he moved in with me! Apparently he had been working non-stop to save up for the deposit and hadn’t had a holiday for three years. All that grafting and saving is, I think, the sure sign of a good man. I cannot bear someone who is lazy. Nothing winds me up more than someone who expects to have something for nothing. And I’ve had first-hand experience of that for many years … I am used to paying for everything, and in a way I don’t like to take anything from anyone because then I end up feeling that I owe them. But I’m getting better at letting Kieran pay. Although he’s no millionaire, he dotes on me exactly the way a girl wants a man to. He’s thoughtful, considerate and romantic. He told me that along with saving for the flat, he had savings to give him some security … and then he met me, bought me diamonds, and said his plan has completely gone to pot! I genuinely believe that he would give his last penny to me.

Plus, and this is a big one for me, we have lots of
banter together and a real laugh. But he can also put me in my place and won’t put up with any of my shit at all, and I like that. For instance, if we’re out together and I say I want to stay out longer, he’ll say, ‘No, you’re coming home now.’ And I respect him and listen to him, which I haven’t done with anybody before – even if I said I did, I didn’t.

And, very importantly, I’m a real family person and Kieran is as family-minded as me. I really got on with his family from the moment I met them. I felt I could be myself with them, and that his mum accepted me, and it was a comforting, reassuring feeling to know I didn’t have to put on an act. I can go to their house and chill and feel as if I’ve known them for ages. And Kieran gets on equally well with my family. For the first time
ever
my mum and step-dad get on with my partner’s mum and family, so they can socialise together. They have things in common, and that makes such a difference and is such a good feeling!

Within weeks we knew what we had was special, a once-in-a-lifetime relationship. I know people will be cynical and say, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before from you, when you met Pete. And, yes, you did, but so what? You can fall in love more than once! And I know that everyone will think, But of course you were crazy about Kieran! Everyone feels like that when they fall for someone in the early weeks, it’s the honeymoon period. I get that, but I also know when I’ve met The One. And with Kieran it was a proper, true-life whirlwind romance, a match made in heaven.

By early December 2012 we knew we wanted to get married and as soon as we possibly could. There was no big proposal. He didn’t get down on one knee, whip out a ring and ask me; instead we both talked about
it and agreed that’s what we wanted. It seemed like the natural thing to do. I knew that I was in love with Kieran and that I was in a good place. My wedding with Pete had been ruined as I was suffering from post-natal depression; I had married Alex on the rebound. But now I was completely happy.

In late December Kieran and I were on our way to a meeting with Andrew, my manager, at his house in Weston-super-Mare. Funnily enough, though we didn’t know it then, this would turn out to be near the venue where we had the blessing for our marriage. We were chatting about our wedding plans.

‘Do you realise you haven’t even proposed properly yet?’ I commented, jokingly.

Instantly Kieran whipped a candy ring out of a packet of Haribos and said, ‘Kate, will you marry me?’ Resourceful guy, my man.

And when I said, ‘Yes,’ he slipped it on to my finger. A cute gesture, though as you can imagine I wanted a bling ring. I mean, I like Haribos – but I like diamonds a lot more.

I already knew how generous Kieran was, and how he was always spoiling me, but when it came to my engagement ring, he completely took me by surprise. We were out shopping and happened to wander into a jewellery store. My eye was instantly caught by a picture of an absolutely gorgeous diamond engagement ring. I think it’s called a Princess setting, and it was a whopping square-cut diamond set in a glittering diamond band. I
asked the assistant if they had the ring at that store, and they did. I tried it on and it was love at first sight. It was completely me. But I had absolutely no expectation that Kieran would buy it. Just as we were leaving, he said he had to ask the assistant something and the next thing I knew he had bought the ring for me! I was absolutely thrilled. Really blown away by his generosity, and by how romantic it was.

We kept our wedding plans to ourselves at first, knowing that everyone would say it was too soon, that we were rushing into it, that we didn’t know each other, all the usual things. But I’m not nuts. I take risks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I live life how I want to live it, there is no rulebook telling you how you should live. If you’re in love, you’re in love. And I was absolutely one hundred per cent head over heels in love with Kieran.

He is the loveliest guy you could ever meet: caring, kind, funny. It helps that he’s gorgeous, but it’s not just about his looks, it’s his character too. I really do feel complete with him, protected and looked after. That feeling of insecurity I’ve always had with other men, I don’t have with Kieran. I feel more content now than I’ve ever been. And a confession: I’m so relaxed with him that I even fart when he’s in the room. I’ve never done that in front of a man before! Okay, that’s not going to make it inside a Valentine’s Day card, ‘I love you so much I can fart in front of you,’ but it shows how relaxed I am with him.

Around Christmas we started to break the news to everyone that we were tying the knot. Kieran did the old-fashioned thing of asking for my hand from my step-dad. He got a thumbs-up from Paul and a lecture about how, if he wanted to keep me, he would always have to work, and that he mustn’t let me walk all over him and give in to me, or I would end up treating him like a little dog on a lead and he’d be gone … Hmm, sounds harsh! But probably true … and only my family could get away with saying something like that.

Kieran told his mum and she was really happy for him. They have a close relationship so she knew that if he wanted to marry me he really was in love with me. I broke the news to my mum, telling her, ‘I’m doing it whatever you think, Mum. I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. We’re both adults and, even if no one thinks we should, we’re doing it.’ She’s so used to me doing things my way that she just rolled her eyes and said, ‘Well, if you don’t mean it this time, don’t do it! And you had better make this one last. And, by the way, this will be the last wedding of yours I come to.’

But we didn’t fall out over it. She really likes Kieran and thinks he is the best man I have been with. She likes the way he’s so normal and grounded and that he works. I don’t even think she minds about him being a stripper, because it’s work and means he’s not relying on me.

And when I told Princess and Junior they were both excited as they really like Kieran. I think people
worry because I have been married before, and have the impression that my children have been introduced to my partners too quickly. But the fact is, whenever Kieran first came to my house, either the children weren’t with me, or there was always a group of my friends there, so they would think he was just another friend. They weren’t introduced to him initially as my boyfriend so that they could gradually get to know him. And the only other men they’ve had in their life, apart from their dad, have been Alex, who I was married to, and Leo, who I was with for nearly two years. And that was over the course of four years … it’s not like there was a different man every month!

We held a little party at my house, where I met all Kieran’s friends, and announced our engagement then. Everyone congratulated us, and seemed genuinely happy for us. I think they could see how into each other we were. You can tell a lot about a person from their friends and all of Kieran’s were lovely, and a lot of them were in couples and around my age. They were all educated, friendly people with good manners.

We wanted to get married in January, as soon as we possibly could, though we didn’t tell anyone at this stage. We planned to have a tiny ceremony with only our mums present, along with three of my closest friends, Jane, Derek and Tanya. There was no point in waiting; the big question was, where? We both thought it would be great to get married on a beach. I imagined beautiful white sand, hot sunshine, the ocean, a private idyllic
setting. What could be more romantic? I wanted to go to the Maldives because I absolutely love it out there, but we discovered that you can’t legally get married, you can only have a blessing. And at other places we considered there seemed to be so many rules and regulations about how long you had to stay there before you got married and we didn’t have much time, as both Kieran and I had work commitments.

Then I remembered that my friend Michelle Heaton had got married at a Sandals resort in the Bahamas. She had sold the pictures to
OK!
magazine and the place looked stunning. I asked her if it had been private and she said it was (although it may well have been that she bought a private package). From the pictures and Michelle’s description it didn’t seem that we could get anywhere better than that, so we went ahead and booked our wedding at the Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa, a different resort from Michelle’s but it looked just as lovely. The brochure and website made the place out to be idyllic, with gorgeous white-sand private beaches. And the package was going to be all inclusive. Our whole wedding would be planned for us. The hotel arranges the ceremony, the flowers, the food and photographer. It would be completely stress-free. It seemed too good to be true. Unfortunately, as we found out when we arrived, it
was
too good to be true …

I knew we would also have a big wedding blessing back in the UK where we would invite all our family and friends so I thought I would save the big white dress for
then. Meanwhile I wanted something I could wear on the beach, and I ended up asking Adrian, the dress designer who makes all the outfits for my launches, to come up with a dress. He had made me a little black number that I had worn to the premiere of
Skyfall
which I loved, so I asked him to make me exactly the same dress in white, but with crystals all over it. It was a halterneck style in white silk, short at the front and long at the back, and yes, it did flash some cleavage, but I wanted to show off my fantastic new boobs, little knowing then that they wouldn’t be looking so good for long … Adrian also found me a little diamante tiara that went with the dress perfectly. He made it in a record two days. I didn’t even bother to try it on before we flew out because I knew it would fit. I didn’t have to worry about shoes because we were going to be barefoot in the sand.