Peter Andre found great success at age 16 and almost squandered his newfound wealth. Now he says he’s lucky to have a wife who wants him to spend LESS, not more…

Singer, songwriter and actor Pedro André He was born in the United Kingdom in 1973 and grew up in Australia to Cypriot parents. In 1989 he rose to fame at age 16 when he won a recording contract worth A$146,000 after appearing on the Australian talent show New Faces. World tours and a string of number one singles and albums followed, including Gimme Little Sign and Mysterious Girl.

In 2004, Peter appeared in I’m a celebrity… Get me out of here!, where he met his future wife, Katie Price. Her success on the show attracted a legion of new fans and propelled the Mysterious Girl reissue to the top of the UK charts.

Peter, 51, has two children, Junior, 19, and Princess, 17, with his ex-wife Katie and now lives in Surrey with his second wife, Dr Emily MacDonagh, and their three children, Amelia, ten years old, Theo, eight years old and Arabella, seven months old.

What did your parents teach you about money?

I was raised by grafters, with my father, Savvas, a barber before he got into property development, and my mother, Thea, a full-time tailor who had six children. When I signed my first record deal and the money started coming in, I remember dad warning me that one day it might run out, so invest, invest, invest. Of course, when you are a teenager you don’t think about investments, but about parties.

Dad was overseeing my finances at the time and, unbeknownst to me, had been investing my royalties into properties for me. I was very grateful because it got to the point where I spent all my money and I told him about it.

It was then that he revealed that I then owned three properties. That was the best lesson of my life. From then on I tried to live a simpler life and have been an avid real estate investor ever since.

I am a very strict father and I have told my children that they have to work if they want to get ahead in life.

Have you ever been paid silly money?

I have done private concerts many times. The interesting thing is that even when they flew me to parties in Europe, they never asked how much I earned. I always wanted to do the work. However, when I bothered to ask my management, I was invariably pleasantly surprised at how much I was getting.

What year do you think was the best of your financial life?

As I have continually invested in property, both here in the UK and in Cyprus, I believe each year is better than the last.

Most expensive thing you bought for fun?

I’m really embarrassed to say this, but I went through a very silly period buying flash cars. I remember buying a Ferrari and walking into the showroom a few months later to buy a Lamborghini, and even the salesman tried to warn me.

Now here I am with my electric family car. I love cars though, so I won’t rule out buying another monster again, but the days of sitting there revving the engine are over. I feel embarrassed thinking about it.

What was your biggest money mistake?

I’ve done many, but the biggest one was probably flying with friends first class and wasting so much on silly things, from clothes to cars. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I still spend more than I should.

When we fly to Australia, I want to go business class, but Emily insists on economy class because you land at the same time regardless of your seat, but you just spent a lot of extra money. So we have these little battles and I recognize that she is absolutely right, but I want to travel in business class for the comfort of our family.

Sometimes I win, but mostly Emily prevails. How lucky am I to have a wife who pushes me to spend less instead of more?

Best money decision you’ve ever made?

My dad really wanted to buy this little beach resort near Brisbane, and he wanted me to invest in it so I wouldn’t waste the money I was making on something silly. Anyway, I invested quite a bit of money in this complex and we had people running it for a while.

But then they left when I was on a world tour, so my poor parents had to come out of retirement to manage it. My whole family came back to help for a while, but we couldn’t sustain it and eventually sold.

We didn’t lose or make any money, so it may not seem like a huge financial gain, but I was able to do business with my dad and that’s why it was so special.

Do you have any property?

We live in Surrey and also own a five-bedroom villa in Larnaca, Cyprus, which we mainly rent out but where we go on a family holiday every year.

I also have other properties in Australia, Cyprus and around the UK, which I rent out.

I buy properties for investment, but I never sell them and I wouldn’t sell them unless I had to. The only time I would voluntarily sell would be if I moved home.

Do you have a pension?

I consider my property portfolio as my pension and it will eventually go to my family.

What is your number one financial priority?

Stability for the family. I would love to get to the stage in life where we can travel the world and see all the places I never saw when I was on tour.

But a bigger priority than that is stability for the children, and I want them to continue investing in my property and give it to their children.

Tickets for Peter Andre: The Best Of Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons are available at fourseasonsshow.com for the UK tour from January to March 2025.