Pete Doherty swaps rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle for the French seaside as he enjoys stroll with girlfriend

Pete Doherty was one of the UK music scene’s biggest hellraisers back in the noughties when he fronted The Libertines and Babyshambles.

However, the rocker is now spending his days on the French coast, and it suits him.

The 42-year-old has been pictured in the seaside town of Étretat in northern France with girlfriend Katia deVidas, and was all smiles as the couple walked Katia’s dog Gladys. 

Pete – minus the pork pie hat noughties indie fans are used to seeing on his head – took a stroll in tracksuit bottoms, a white t-shirt and sliders, and held a face mask around his wrist.

He and Katia – the keyboardist in his band Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres – were seen laughing and chatting while playing with Gladys, before later taking Pete’s dog Zeus to the vet.

Pete was seen pottering around the local town armed with a tote bag, and visited a deli counter in one of the local shops.

The Can’t Stand Me Now singer lives in Paris with Katia, and during the pandemic, they have been spending time in the Normandy region.

Pete and Katia met in 2016 when they formed the Puta Madres and are believed to have started dating the following year.

While Pete was back living in Margate in 2019 and said in an interview with the Guardian that he was dating a singer called Jade, it seems that he reunited with Katia soon afterwards.

A source told The Sun: ‘He still has a hand in music as that’s his number one passion, of course, but going to France has allowed him to relax.

‘Over the last few months he has taken his foot off the pedal and has really been enjoying his downtime.’

They added that a relaxed pace of life suits Pete more than his past hedonistic lifestyle.

The star had moved into property back in 2017, having bought a hotel in Cliftonville with Carl Barât and opened The Albion Arms last year for guests. 

Pete had been living in the hotel previously, and told the Guardian: ‘It’s been the saving of me. It was a dream having a place where I didn’t have to worry about rent for the first time. Just having a roof over my head, not having a gun to my head with the threat of eviction or: “You have to s**g me or you’re out on your ear.”’

However, he later ditched Margate for France, and in 2019, the musician made headlines when he was arrested twice in one week in Paris, after buying cocaine and fighting with a teenage boy.

He was given a three-month suspended sentence for affray and was fined €10,000 (£8,500) in November 2019. 

In the past, Pete has battled drug addiction and been arrested for multiple drug offences, including possession of crack cocaine, heroin and ketamine.

The star revealed in a biography that he used to work as a drug dealer and a sex worker to fund his drug habit.

When asked in 2019 whether he would like to be clean, Pete said: ‘Yes, a part of me would. Just so I can feel things. There are so many people in my life who deserve better. It really is a mental deficiency.

‘I’d be a force to be reckoned with! I’d have money and self-respect and clean hands.’

Pete, who previously dated Kate Moss, has two children – son Astile, who he had in 2003 with Lisa Moorish, and daughter Aisling, born in 2011 to model Lindi Hingston. 

He last released music with The Puta Madres in 2019.

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