Sophie Ellis-Bextor, a singer, has opened up about parenting and the nuptials of her 20-year union to her musician husband.
As a mother of five boys, Sophie Ellis-Bextor is happy she can talk openly to her sons about difficult issues like toxic masculinity. The Murder On The Dancefloor singer’s children are aged from six to 21 and, although she keeps an eye on their mobile phones, she says she does not try to demonise them.
She tells Good Housekeeping magazine: “I’ve always had a lot of faith in my boys. We’ve openly chatted about toxic masculinity for a long time. My eldest is very articulate about these things, so none of it was new to my house.” Toxic masculinity is a hot topic following the recent success of the hit Netflix show Adolescence starring Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper.
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Eddie Miller, Stephen’s father, is a witness of armed police detaining his 13-year-old son Jamie (Owen) in a bullying incident. Its creators, who spoke with Parliament in April, have sparked discussions about the intersection of misogyny among young boys online and the radicalization of young men.
Sonny, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Kit, Jet, Jesse, 9 and Mickey, Mickey, age 6, Sophie, 46, claims to have open conversations with them about the subject. She continued, “Sometimes people mistake what boys are like for a different species. I’m raising five boys, as far as I’m concerned.
Because it’s parenting, “I keep an eye on (their mobile phone screen time,” but you shut down communication if you start demonizing people. Then you become like those 1950s parents who forced kids to burn their rock ‘n’roll records.
Sophie, the disco queen, and Richard Jones, the musician, have a happy 20-year union. Make sure you always choose each other over anything else, even the children, as my mother advised. She was correct.
Even though the kids might squirm their eyes when they see us hugging or whatever, they are content with our happiness. As a family, we have fun as well. They accompanied us for a significant portion of the tour last year.
Pop star Sophie made her debut in 2000 with her number one single Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love), a collaboration with DJ Spiller, and other chart-topping singles like Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home, which have recently seen a resurgence thanks to the release of Saltburn. The revival was absolutely wonderful, Sophie said.
Sophie got the nation dancing throughout the Covid lockdown with her Instagram kitchen discos and recalled: “It felt so good to have that community.”
This year she is returning with new music. Her album Perimenopop is out on September 12 and Sophie says that it’s her way of showing the world there is no age limit on pop music.
She continued, “There is still this misconception that only young people create pop music.” I thought, “Now I can literally be myself,” as soon as I learned the new album title. This album aims to make fun of this depressing chapter and the narrative that portrays women as quiet and invisible. That’s not what I’m feeling at all.
Read the full interview with Sophie in the August issue of Good Housekeeping UK.
Source: Mirror
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