Peter Andre shares heartbreaking reason he hasn’t had a birthday party in 10 years

The actor spoke candidly about grief

Peter Andre has revealed that he has not had a birthday party for 10 years, following the death of his brother, Andrew.

The singer’s brother died at the age of 54 in December 2012, 10 months after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Peter has previously spoken about how devastated his brother’s death left him. In a new candid interview, he said he went to “a very, very dark place” when he was grieving.

“I don’t think I’ve had a birthday party since,” he toldThe Times in an interview published on Saturday (26 August).

Reaching out to readers who may be going through the same process, he said: “It’s not the same as anxiety and depression, though you might be feeling the same symptoms.”

Peter also recalled how his wife Emily McDonagh, who was his girlfriend at the time, had organised a surprise birthday party for his 40th birthday two months after Andrew died.

The party was held at the Browns Bar and Brasserie in Covent Garden, but Peter was unable to enjoy it as he “broke down and kept disappearing” from the event.

Instead of having a big birthday celebration to mark his 50th birthday in February, Peter flew his wife and all four of his children out to Dubai for a family getaway.

Writing in his column for OK! magazine, the “Mysterious Girl” singer said he wanted to celebrate his milestone “bit by bit” throughout the year instead of having one big party.

“I was always a bit freaked out about turning 50, but it’s coincided nicely with me celebrating 30 years in the industry,” he wrote.

“Focusing on the 30 and not the 50 sounds better! It sounds old but it really isn’t. I feel so young. I train, I love food, I love life.”

In 2021, Peter revealed why his reality TV show Peter Andre: My Life, which began in 2009, was cancelled in 2013.

He wrote in New! magazine: “I often get asked why I stopped filming our reality show when it was doing so well and I guess there were a number of factors, the main one being when I lost my brother Andrew in 2012.

“Even though ITV were very kind to give me a month off filming, when I went to film again I was constantly breaking down and I realised it was time to take a long break from doing the show.”

He said in 2017 that if he “could turn back time”, he would spend “another Christmas” with his late sibling.

“We were never able to spend Christmas together as we were never in the same country at the same time. The only year we did was the year Andrew sadly died. He’s always in my thoughts but especially at this time of year.”

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Elsewhere in his latest interview, Peter spoke candidly about how he “suffered” to attain his physique in his twenties due to restrictive eating.

He said he ate “raw eggs for breakfast” in order to keep his body fat percentage low, adding that he “thought [he] was Rocky Balboa” from the 1976 film Rocky.

“In my twenties, I had the image I wanted by watching everything I ate and being strict,” Peter recalled. “I was buzzing when people said, ‘You look good’.

“I looked the way I wanted to look, but I’d suffer for is because I’d constantly get sick. I felt terrible and was always getting colds. Because I had no body fat, my immune system was so low.”

Peter and Emily married in 2015 and share two children, Theo and Amelia. He also has two older children, Princess and Junior, who he shares with ex-wife Katie Price.