Pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor has said she has “a lot of faith” in her five sons and has chatted to them about toxic masculinity.
The Murder On The Dancefloor singer, 46, is mother to Mickey, Jesse, Ray, Kit and Sonny, whom she shares with her husband, musician Richard Jones.
Ellis-Bextor said while she will “keep an eye on” their mobile phones, she does not demonise things that could “shut down communication”.
In recent months the success of hit Netflix show Adolescence has sparked conversations around misogyny among young boys online and the radicalisation of young men, with the creators discussing the topic in Parliament in April.
Ellis-Bextor told Good Housekeeping UK: “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. Sometimes people have an idea of what boys are like, as if they’re a different species.
“As I far as I’m concerned, I’m raising five people who happen to be boys. I keep an eye on (mobile phone screen time), because that’s parenting, but if you start demonising things, you shut down communication.
“Then you’re like those parents in the 1950s who made kids burn their rock ‘n’ roll albums.”
Speaking about her husband, Ellis-Bextor added: “When we got married, we’d already had our first baby.
“My mum said: ‘Make sure you always choose each other over anything else, even the kids.’ She was right. Even though the kids might roll their eyes if they see us hugging or whatever, they’re happy that we’re happy.
“We have fun as a family, too. Last year, they came with us for a lot of the tour.”
The singer also discussed her forthcoming album, Perimenopop, a play on the words perimenopause and pop.
“There’s still this idea that only young people make pop music,” she said.
“As soon as I had the new album title, I felt like, ‘Now I can literally be myself.’
“This album is about poking fun at this gloomy chapter and the narrative around it that women should be quietening down and becoming invisible… I don’t feel like that at all.”
The full interview can be read now in the August issue of Good Housekeeping UK.
