Katie Price has rejected claims that the search for her missing husband, Lee Andrews, is a 'publicity stunt,' insisting in a video posted on Tuesday, 19 May, that his disappearance in Dubai is 'real' and has been reported to authorities in both the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

Concern over Andrews' whereabouts beganto build late last week, after the formerCelebrity Big Brotherwinner told followers she had not heard from her husband,based in Dubai, for several days.

Price, who has documented much of her private life in public for more than two decades, started posting increasingly anxious updates about Andrews' apparent disappearance, prompting a rush of online speculation and, inevitably, suspicion.

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The suspicion was familiar and, in some corners of social media, almost reflexive. As the posts were shared and dissected, some users questioned whether the updates about Lee Andrews were being staged to generate attention for Katie Price. It was this narrative that finally pushed her to respond at length on YouTube.

'I want to make it clear again everyone: This is not a publicity stunt. This is real, and anyone who thinks that I'm part of this is disgusting,' she said, visibly angry at having to defend herself while also describing an unfolding missing person case.

The reality star said she has not heard from Andrews, and neither has his family. According to Price, there has been no contact with him at all, despite repeated efforts by relatives on both sides.

'None of his family has heard anything from Lee. His dad's out in Dubai has heard nothing, and the rest of his family's in the UK, and obviously me,' she explained. 'We have reported him to the British embassy as a missing person; he's been reported in Dubai as a missing person. I just don't know what to say.'

It is an oddly modern kind of nightmare. A man apparently vanishes overseas, and the first serious attempt to piece together what happened plays out not in a police briefing room but on Instagram and YouTube, with strangers weighing in from behind their phones.

Price has given a detailed account of the last time she says she saw her husband on screen. In an update shared on 16 May, she claimed Andrews had been travelling towards a border area near Dubai and had contacted her in a highly distressing video call.

Source: International Business Times UK