Love, Lipstick and Lies (12 page)

My daredevil experiences didn’t end there as we also went quad-biking for the day with a group of Leo’s friends. I hesitated to get on the back of Leo’s bike as he was so reckless and fearless. He looked the part though – he had all the gear and his own quad bike. Like I said, bit of an Action Man. I ended up riding with Lulie, a friend of Leo’s who was staying with us, as she could speak English and translated for us. She was the woman who had been responsible for getting him his presenter job on the TV show, and with my woman’s intuition I reckoned she fancied him. But it wasn’t a big deal; besides, I imagined lots of women fancied him. What wasn’t to fancy!

Quad biking was brilliant. I’ve done it lots of times, but this seemed to be especially good. We raced over dirt tracks and through puddles, and I didn’t care about getting covered in mud. And it was a good opportunity to meet more of Leo’s circle. They were all friendly and the girls were good-looking, but maybe a bit bland compared to me. They didn’t seem to have my devil-may-care streak.

It was Valentine’s Day the following day and I wanted to buy Leo a card and a present. When we’d finished quad biking I managed to track down a shop – which was quite something as we were in the middle of nowhere – and buy a huge teddy bear, chocolates and a card, and smuggle it all into the boot of the car without Leo seeing. I’m not sure if they celebrate Valentine’s Day there in the same way we do in the UK, but I wanted to mark it with Leo, who was giving me such a magical experience in Argentina. We had dinner then got back in the car for the long drive home, exhausted by our active day but feeling thoroughly happy.

It was midnight by the time we set off. The roads were narrow and wound through mountainous terrain. Leo was driving the 4x4. I was glad it was him rather than me, though usually in relationships I’m always the one to drive. Ben and Rupert, two of the camera crew, were asleep in the back and Lulie was translating the conversation for Leo and me. We were talking about how the mother of his daughter had suddenly become difficult and had sold a story on him, perhaps because she had seen pictures of him with me in the press. And we were saying how into each other we were, and how happy we were to be together, when suddenly Lulie cried, ‘Watch out!’

Staring through the windscreen, to my horror I saw two horses right in front of us, and car lights coming from
the other direction on the narrow road. Leo desperately tried to brake but it was too late, the horses were too close. We ploughed straight into the back of them. They were thrown on to the bonnet, hit the windscreen and bounced off.

It’s hard remembering exactly what happened as it was such a shocking experience, but I remember the car skidding for what seemed like a long way. Leo stayed in control and flung his arm out to protect me because I only had the seat belt across my waist, I didn’t have it over my chest. If he hadn’t done that I would have gone straight into the windscreen, no doubt about it. The airbags had failed to inflate on impact. The car came to a stop and for a moment there was complete silence. I must have shut my eyes. When I opened them I saw that the windscreen had completely caved in. It was only inches away from my face. Leo was facing forward, still clutching the wheel, and looked to be in shock. I reached out to him. ‘Are you okay?’ I exclaimed, terrified that he was hurt. But he turned to me and seemed to be fine. Then I called out to the others and they were unhurt as well.

We all got out of the car. It was pitch black, and steam was coming off the engine. I could hear this terrible moaning coming from the animal which was lying across the road, a mare. It was a gruesome sight. She’d been terribly injured; her back leg had completely snapped and we could see the bone sticking out. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t believe the poor creature
was still alive. I bent down and could see the raw fear in her eyes. I stroked her nose, whispering soothing words, trying to bring her some comfort in her last moments. Mercifully, she soon died. Then I heard a rustling in the bushes by the side of the road and said, ‘Oh my God! That’s the other horse.’

We found it, a foal, lying off to one side. Like his mother’s, his back legs had been terribly injured. He was desperately trying to get up but couldn’t. I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it was to see this poor animal in such pain, and with such fear in his eyes. I stroked his nose and neck and murmured, ‘Okay, boy, okay.’ Until he too died. It was like being in a nightmare. The shock, the smell of blood, the darkness. We were all stunned. I remember crying, and I was physically shaking. I couldn’t believe that this had happened.

The car that had passed us returned to check how we were. The driver was convinced we had all died in the collision. And as we took in the state of our car we couldn’t believe that none of us had been hurt. It was a write-off; the windscreen had caved in and the front end was buckled and mangled. You couldn’t imagine how anyone could have walked away unscathed from such a scene. Leo had only been going at thirty miles an hour or so, but the roads round there weren’t proper tarmac, they were narrow dirt tracks full of potholes. If he hadn’t done such a brilliant job of controlling the car we could have broken through a fence and plunged down a ravine or hit the other vehicle head on.

Later, when I was back in the UK, I showed some pictures of the crash to Adrian, the guy who was doing physio on my knee. He had been a paramedic, and when he saw the car he said that those were the kinds of accidents he would be called to then and all the people involved would have been killed. ‘I have no idea how you survived that,’ he told me. I have no idea either. It was horrific and I’ve long had this premonition that I would die in a car accident, so if it was going to happen, that would have been my time … We had all been incredibly lucky. Afterwards Leo mentioned the black eagle feather and said that it had protected us. I don’t know about that but something had saved us, that was for sure.

I was devastated that the horses had died. Apparently the mare and her foal had escaped from a nearby farm after someone had left the gate open. Horses are one of my greatest passions, they are such wonderful, beautiful animals, and seeing two die in agony, right in front of me, affected me deeply. When I look at my horses now I sometimes remember what those two looked like when they were dying and it’s a disturbing memory.

I was desperate to speak to my children and let them know that I’d had an accident but that I was okay, and tell them how much I loved them. And I wanted to speak to my mum and my brother. When something shocking like that happens you need to speak to your family. But there was barely any signal on my phone and I couldn’t get through. Finally I managed to reach Catherine, my
PA, and told her what had happened. She said later that I sounded totally shocked.

Leo was deeply upset when we got back to the ranch, a kind of delayed reaction to what had happened. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have gone through the windscreen and been horrifically injured, or even killed, if he hadn’t put out his arm to save me. He was my hero; he had saved my life. It definitely brought us closer. We had survived this shocking ordeal together. A few days later we got matching tattoos done. I had Leo’s name and the date we met tattooed on my left calf, and he had my name tattooed on his leg. I’ll never learn, will I? By then I’d had the tattoo of Pete’s name covered up with a rose design …

After the accident I remember commenting to camera that Leo was perfect and I was still trying to find a fault in him. He ticked all the right boxes with his character and looks, and seemed almost too good to be true. I didn’t think that anyone could be that perfect – not only as my boyfriend, but also at everything he did: his job, riding, cooking, DIY … you name it, he could do it. At one point during my visit he picked up a set of panpipes and even knew how to play them! I hate the sound of panpipes, but I was still impressed.

I loved his strong character, though sometimes we did clash because he definitely wanted things done his way. I don’t know if that was his Latino temperament, but I didn’t mind that – I would far rather be with someone who is a strong character than a doormat. He told me
that he had never been out with anyone like me before. It sounded as if he was usually the one in control, and it seemed as if he’d met his match with me.

And I loved it that he wanted to protect and look after me. During my visit he wouldn’t let me pay for anything. And let me tell you, that was a complete novelty! However, there was one time when he needed some cash to pay for some accommodation and asked if he could borrow some from me. I ended up giving him around fifteen hundred pounds. He promised to pay me back, but he never did. At the time I thought nothing of it; after all, he had been so generous to me. It was only a few months later that I remembered it and wondered if it had been a sign that Leo wasn’t all he said he was. But that was later … Back then I was falling in love with him. I would have done anything for him, and he would have done anything for me.

But there were still two big problems … he lived sixteen hours away by air, and he couldn’t speak fluent English. But by this time we were desperate to be together. He was due to start filming in May for his new game show series, and said he would find it hard not to see me. He actually cried when he talked about it, saying, ‘I can’t be without you.’

I couldn’t stay in Argentina with him because of my children. We decided that every month I would fly out to see him and then the following month he would fly to the UK to be with me. It sounded okay in theory, but in my heart I couldn’t see it working. Because of my
children and my career, I’ve never wanted to have a long-distance relationship. I don’t think they can ever work. And so Leo made the decision to give up his TV presenting job, saying he couldn’t bear not to be with me. He was coming to England as soon as he could. We had only known each other for two months but we knew in our hearts that we had to be together. And there is no doubt that surviving the accident gave us an intense bond. But even then I did think it was surprising that he would give up his career to be with me, because I wouldn’t give up my career for any man.

* * *

The horrific car accident where the horses so tragically died inspired part of the plot for my next novel,
In The Name of Love
, where Charlie, the heroine, has an accident when her horse collides with a car, and she is powerless to save him. From then on she has a phobia about riding and suffers from flashbacks to that terrible day. And then, in an ironic twist of fate, she falls passionately in love with, of all people, a Spanish event rider! Though he speaks far better English than Leo … I definitely like to put my characters through it. After all I’ve been through myself, I want my novels to reflect the drama.

I never write about real people who I’ve met and had relationships with, but I do draw on my experiences, and on my own feelings, for inspiration. I guess that’s one good thing to come out of my tempestuous love life! So,
for example,
Angel
, my first novel, is about a beautiful young girl who becomes an incredibly successful glamour model, and is a woman who always follows her heart rather than her head. Ring any bells? One of my other heroines, Sapphire, runs a successful business in Brighton, and has her own share of heartbreak and passion. I wanted to write about her because of having my own businesses, such as KP Equestrian. My latest novel,
He’s The One
, has a heroine who is a single mother, a way of life I know very well. I like my novels to be about strong, passionate women, and the world of the novels is the world I know, the celebrity world, reflecting my experiences of being famous but still living what I think is a normal family life.

I’m hugely proud of the fact that I’ve sold over three and a half million copies of my autobiographies, novels and children’s books. It all started with my first autobiography,
Being Jordan
, that came out in 2004. It sold over a million copies. Then I branched out into novels, working with a ghostwriter.

Even after nine of them I’ve got loads more ideas for plots up my sleeve. For instance, I’d love to write another novel about Angel. She’s happily married now to her gorgeous ex-footballer husband, Cal, and has two children, but I’m sure there is plenty more that could happen to my beautiful heroine with the stunning green eyes. I know from all the tweets, Facebook messages and emails that it’s something my fans would love to read. So, watch this space!

I want you to imagine something. I want you to imagine that someone made these comments, on television, about your son. What I am about to write will shock you, but imagine how I felt as Harvey’s mum. Here it is:

‘Apparently Jordan and Peter Andre are fighting over custody of Harvey. Eventually one of them will lose and have to keep him.’ Pretty disgusting but there’s worse to follow. ‘I have a theory that Jordan married a cage fighter because she needed someone strong enough to stop Harvey from fucking her.’

I was horrified that the so-called comedian, Frankie Boyle, could say such a disgusting thing about my son, an innocent child. Whatever anyone thinks of me, there was no way that a little boy like Harvey deserved to be the subject of a sick joke like that. People think that because
I’m in the public eye I should just take everything on the chin, but I won’t when it involves my children. And I didn’t this time. I immediately contacted my lawyers. I had to defend my son.

I wasn’t the only one who was outraged; Boyle’s Channel 4 programme provoked around five hundred complaints from people who were shocked that a mainstream broadcaster had allowed a discriminatory attack on a disabled child, who has more courage in his little finger than Boyle will ever muster in his life. In response to my lawyer’s letter, Ofcom the TV regulator launched an investigation and ruled that Channel 4 had broken the rules by broadcasting material which appeared to ‘target and mock the physical and mental disabilities’ of Harvey. But that was as far as it went; neither Boyle nor Channel 4 was asked to apologise, which I found disgraceful. Channel 4 went on to broadcast the Paralympics so how could they justify airing Frankie Boyle’s comment about a child, insinuating that because he’s got disabilities he’s more likely to rape his own mother? If Boyle’s wife or children had an accident and were paralysed that would absolutely change his life, and then I’m sure he’d think twice about making jokes about people with disabilities.