The 'celebrity' PR battle of 2009 is a sad indictment

Everyone loves a romance between celebrities and the very public flirtation between glamour model Jordan and one-time pop star Peter Andre provided reams of copy for gossip-hungry tabloid media and readers in the UK.

Since then, Jordan and Andre have followed the well-trodden path of celebrity couples across the planet.

Just as with Disney girl Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey in the United States, they invite the media into every aspect of their lives.

From romance to wedding to everyday living, there seems to be a hunger from the public and therefore from the media to see how these rich and ‘famous’ really live – and perhaps to draw some comfort in the fact that they have the same highs and lows that we all encounter.

There’s a reason why Jordan has been one of the most enduring and successful topless/glamour models in the last decade. She’s not the prettiest model but she seems to combine flirtation, hedonism and cheekiness with a single-minded obsession to be a success in everything she does.

But she also wanted to be seen as a responsible mother with a brain to match her looks, confirming through her books, her life with Andre and name change to Katie Price, that she had left her bad behaviour days behind her.

At the same time, I get the feeling that Andre, while accepting of his role as part of a celebrity couple, wanted above all to be a father and a partner with all the responsibilities and respect that that entails.

Famed for his six pack in the days of his hit single ‘Mysterious Girl’, stories of him bedding hordes of women just never made the media and given some of the obscure celebrities whose kiss and tell stories reach print, his low profile is not the reason.

Andre has been unfairly described as a wimp in some sections of the media, but throughout his acrimonious split from Jordan, he retained his dignity and the values that come with being from a Greek Cypriot family who take such matters very seriously.

While Jordan has reverted to type, partying, prancing around topless and in skimpy outfits and openly seeing other men, her estranged husband has maintained the air of someone who puts his children before anything – and that is to be applauded.

The last few weeks have shown that Jordan’s conversion into Price was nothing more than an act – as many of us perceived it to be – and the split from Andre has clearly hurt her deeply, regardless of what she says to the contrary.

I can’t help that thinking that when her children are old enough to read back on the spat between their parents, Jordan’s antics are going to remind them that the way their mother has behaved is no example of how to live responsibly.

Perhaps a regrettable aspect of the celebrity world we live in is that, while curiosity into Jordan’s life continues, she and others like her will continue to provide a focus for the media that their lack of talent or contribution to the world really deserves.