Actor Billie Piper has said she worries over how to speak to her sons about masculinity now that they’ve reached an age where they’re online.
The 42-year-old co-parents Winston, 15, and Eugene, 11, with the actor-turned controversial political commentator Laurence Fox, 47, who she married in 2007 and separated from in 2016.
Speaking to The Standard, she said: “Not telling a boy to be brave all the time is pretty powerful in and of itself. Not stifling vulnerability is more powerful than people think.”
She added: “A lot of problems start with shaming around being tough. But yeah, we all worry sick. I don’t know a single parent who isn’t either holding their nerve or losing their s***.”
Back in March, the release of the hit Netflix series
The four-part drama traces the disturbing journey of 13-year-old Jamie Miller, whose exposure to misogynistic online communities may have contributed to him killing a female classmate.
Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor previously said she discussed toxic masculinity at length with her five boys following the release of the programme and “keeps an eye” on her sons’ online activity.
Last year, Piper said she struggles to co-parent with Fox, who pled not guilty to sexual offence charges over an upskirt photo of TV star Narinder Kaur shared to social media in 2024.
The actor could now face trial in 2027, with a provisional four-day trial set for 6 December that year at Woolwich Crown Court.
Last September, Fox was sacked from GB News for disparaging remarks he made about political correspondent Ava Evans. “Show me a single, self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that,” he said in comments that were widely condemned.
Piper said last March of their co-parenting schedule: “I close everything down and keep a very strict routine with the kids so that there’s consistency. I keep them close.
“That’s all I can do. What is paramount for me is the privacy and anonymity of my children. They deserve not to be extensions of the parents and to forge their own identities.”
