Peter Andre insisted today that he did not leave his wife Katie Price on a whim and said he remains "100% faithful" to her.

Going their own way: Katie Price and Peter Andre

Andre, 36, said he had not met Price since their split, which was announced last month, and there were no plans to do so.

Writing in his column in New! magazine, Andre said there were "good reasons" which made him walk out.

He said: "It's really important to me, though, that people know I didn't just wake up one day and decide to leave on a whim.

"My children have always been the most important thing in my life and they always will be."

He dismissed reports that he had had a showdown with Price last week and said: "We haven't met up once since we split and have no plans to either."

Andre also said that reports about Price and her ex-boyfriend Dane Bowers and also Billi Bhatti from Big Brother 8 had been "very painful" for him.

He hit back at rumours that he had grown closer to other women.

Andre said: "Apparently, I've got one woman out in Cyprus, another in Los Angeles and I'm even supposed to be involved with a member of staff.

"I can hold my head up high and say I've been 100% faithful throughout my marriage and still am, and any reports suggesting otherwise are totally hurtful and false."

Andre and Price, who have been married for three and a half years, both made public appearances last week.

He appeared on stage to introduce a steamy male dance show, while his 31-year-old estranged wife modelled her equestrian clothing range on a catwalk.

The singer also dismissed speculation that recent pictures taken of himself with his children were staged.

Andre said: "I can swear that those pictures were not set up. The thought of profiting in any way from this terrible situation is totally beyond anything I would consider doing.

"I was furious when I first read those stories because the last thing on my mind at the moment is making money and I certainly wouldn't involve my own children in anything like that."

He said he was still feeling very low, but seeing his children Junior, three, Princess, one, and stepson Harvey, seven, put him on a high.

"The problem with that is that, when they go home at night, I feel really depressed again.

"I was particularly gutted that I didn't get the pleasure of seeing Harvey on his seventh birthday recently."

Andre said he has also found himself a new home - a seven-bedroom house in Hove, near Brighton, close to the beach.

He said: "The whole top floor is a master bedroom, so I think I'll be pretty comfortable there, and I've asked my brother Mike if he'd like to move in with me."

He described recent comments made by former Celebrity Big Brother winner Chantelle Houghton that she would marry him as "very sweet".
Read the full story in this week's New! magazine out today.