"I'M strong because I've had to be," declares ex glamour model Katie Price, best known for her turbulent love life. "I still like trouble, but I don't make trouble - it just comes to me. Nothing's ever easy in my life."

That's an understatement, but after three marriages, two divorces, five engagements and several high-profile relationships, including with Gareth Gates and Dane Bowers, the 38-year-old mum-of-five believes finally - against the odds - she's found domestic bliss.

"Sometimes I don't think any more could possibly happen to me. My life would make a brilliant movie, action-packed with adventure, drama, love, heartbreak and loss," she says, holding court in a luxury hotel, lounging on a circular bed, while mulling over her extraordinary life and revealing the trauma of "the worst couple of years I've ever experienced".

It's 20 years since she first found fame as topless Page Three model, Jordan, in The Sun newspaper. With her combination of glamour, willingness to shock ("I've never been worried about airing my dirty linen in public"), and skilful self-promotion, Katie has stayed in the spotlight ever since, winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2015 and penning numerous novels and children's books.

Until now, though, she's been unable to write her own happy ending. Her marriage to singer Peter Andre - with whom she has two children, Princess, 9, and Junior, 11 - ended after four years in 2009. A year later, she had a short-lived marriage to former Hollyoaks actor and professional fighter, Alex Reid, but they split reportedly after she discovered he was a cross-dresser. She has a son, Harvey, 14, who has special needs, from a relationship with footballer, Dwight Yorke.

Yet it's the betrayal two-and-a-half-years ago by builder and former stripper, Kieran Hayler, 29, whom she married in 2013 after a whirlwind five-week courtship, that left Katie reeling.

While she was pregnant with their second child, Bunny, two - they have a three-year-old son, Jett - she discovered he'd been having affairs with two of her friends.

"All I've ever wanted was someone faithful and loyal who loves me, and Kieran was so kind, loving and gentle. It was impulsive to marry so quickly, but that's me all over. I don't regret that. He convinced me I'd finally got my Mr Right," says Katie, who's laid bare her suffering in her sixth autobiography, Katie Price Reborn.

Remarkably, her husband's remorse and subsequent intensive therapy for sex addiction persuaded her to stay with him, even though at one point she was so low she considered suicide and says only her pregnancy and love for her other children prevented an attempt on her life.

"Now the old Kieran is dead and I'm with the new Kieran, who's a completely different person. He's says I've saved him and I have, and he's turned from a boy into a man. I love him to bits, he's my backbone and I'd be so lost without him," says Katie, who now seems able to view the events with a cool detachment, and is prone to referring to herself in the third person, saying: "The Pricey's a fighter who always bounces back."

"I'll never forgive Kieran and never forget - one day I'd like him to experience the pain he put me through - but I've learned to deal with what he did. After all, it's easy to leave someone, but you have to be strong to stay together and work through it. I hope that inspires other women and shows you can get through anything."

Katie has no compunction about revealing the whole sorry saga – a seventh autobiography is planned - even though she admits: "Kieran hates the book because it drags up what happened, but he just has to put up with that. I don't worry about the kids reading the details at a later date, no. They were there at the time and knew what went on. I'm not happy about that, but that's the way it is. We're very open and liberal parents, so we don't hide things."

She explains her willingness to trust her third husband by saying: "I think he realises what he'd lose if he ever strayed again. In many ways, he's way more mature than me. I call him 'grandad' because he's always so sensible about things and he's brilliant with the kids. He does the school runs - and they all adore him. He's also the first man I've been with who doesn't try to dictate to me about what I should do, but he's able to put me in place if he needs to."

The couple plan to extend their family ("I will only stop having kids when the doctors say I shouldn't have any more"), but first she's set her heart on adopting a child. "I've wanted to do it for years and now I'm trying to arrange it. I love kids - my five are everything to me - and of course it upsets me when people have a go at my parenting," says Katie, a panellist on TV's Loose Woman, who's been criticised for allowing Junior and Princess social media accounts, as well as for images showing Princess wearing make-up.

"The kids are great, they've been used to being in the public eye all their lives, and I'm in full control of their use of social media. Next year they're both going to have a big year doing work projects, modelling and other things, because that's what they want," says Katie defiantly.

The pair recently appeared in her latest TV show, Katie Price's Pony Club, and the keen horsewoman is bringing her brood up in a country setting - the family's home is a nine-bedroom property set in 12 acres in West Sussex.

"Sure, Princess loves make-up - what nine-year-old doesn't? - but most of the time at home she's covered in mud, running around in jeans and wellies helping to look after all our animals and the horses."

Ironically, one topic she does want to draw a line under is her renowned enthusiasm for boob jobs, she's reportedly had eight. "Really, who cares how many I've had? I'm so bored with all that. My latest boob job is perfect, hopefully it'll be the last, and I'm very happy with my body. I'm open and honest about what I have done - that's Botox and filler, and no big deal. I know I don't look like some freak - if I started looking weird, my mum and my friends would tell me.

"I'm definitely not manufactured; I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have if I was. To be in this industry as long as I have proves I have personality - you can't do dull - but I have learned to tone it down a bit! I'll never be told what to do, and even if I think taking a path means, 'S**t, I'll get in trouble for doing that', it won't stop me. It's called adventure and that's what life is about and after all, you only live once.

“What you can say is, 'The Pricey is back, better than ever, and ready for anything life throws at me'."

• Katie Price Reborn by Katie Price is published by Century, priced £20. Available now