Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor has revealed the heartbreaking reason her children are being bullied at school.
The chart-topping star has remained a prominent name in entertainment over the years. In 2013, Sophie participated on Strictly alongside pro dancer Brendan Cole and finished in fourth place.
The Murder On The Dancefloor hitmaker shares five children Sonny, 19, Kit, 14, Ray, 11, Jesse, seven, and Mickey, four, with her husband Richard Jones, whom she met in 2002 and married in 2005.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor reveals her children are being bullied
During a recent appearance on the Salon Confidential podcast, Sophie told host Andreas Wild her youngest children are being picked on at school for their red hair.
“It’s [bullying] definitely been something they’ve experienced, which is really harsh,” she said. “You get to secondary school and anything that marks you out becomes the thing you will be teased about.”
Sophie continued: “It’s extraordinary how you have this desire at that age group just to blend in, to be part of the pack. It’s a really strong instinct.”
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She insisted that “rather than letting it make you feel down, hopefully by having conversations, you can actually keep an eye on it and keep it on the right side of things”.
Sophie stated that her kids have got “some different shades of red”, which she describes as “so gorgeous”. She admitted she can “always find them so easily in a playground”.
‘I don’t think I’m exactly the same mother to each of them’
During an interview with Mother & Baby earlier this year, Sophie was asked whether motherhood has been what she thought it would be.
In response, she said: “By and large, I would say yes. But it’s probably a bit more diverse than I expected and with unexpected challenges. I think, broadly speaking, my kids all have the same mother but actually, the relationship I have with each one is much more nuanced than I expected, because my kids respond differently to different things.”
“I don’t think I’m exactly the same mother to each of them. The broad sweeping things are the same, the values and all that sort of stuff. But I think our interactions and what it is that they respond to is different. So it’s a lot more bespoke than I was anticipating in that way.”
Read more: Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the ‘scariest’ part of battle with sleep paralysis
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