The 32-year-old star will start official proceedings on the earliest possible date of February 10 - which will be exactly a year since she wed the cage fighter in Las Vegas.

A friend of the mother-of-three has revealed she is "chomping at the bit" to file the papers but had to wait until she had been married 12 months before the law entitled her to.

The pal told The Sun newspaper: "She told Alex she will petition for divorce as soon as possible, which is a week on Thursday (03.02.11). He has agreed. This is one of several significant gestures on his part but he still wants to make sure he gets a good deal."

Alex agreed to a legal separation during a 15-minute meeting at the blonde beauty`s mansion in Surrey, South East England, on 31.01.11.

The meeting was reportedly amicable at first with "Katie saying she still cared for Alex" but ended with her erupting in rage when her estranged spouse tried to speak about his feelings.

The 35-year-old sportsman has so far reportedly refused to move out of the home which he has shared with Katie and her children, Harvey, eight, Junior, five, and three-year-old Princess Tiaami, and is thinking about whether to accept a cash settlement to keep quiet about their life together.

The friend said: "He has so far refused to be gagged.

"He`d rather take a smaller amount financially from the marriage with a view to profit from it in the future."

It has also been claimed Katie first realised she no longer loved cross-dressing Alex after watching him lose a brutal cage fight to Tom "Kong" Watson in September.

A friend of Alex said: "She told him the moment he lost his fight to Watson she fell out of love with him.

"The truth is Alex fought like a warrior and was left with awful injuries. But instead of being proud, Katie felt shame he hadn`t lived up to her expectations."
sections: Celebrities