childbirth nearly killed me

Paloma Faith seems much more relaxed discussing her daughter now than she has been. When the little girl was born in 2016, Paloma made a point of not revealing her name or sex. The word was that the child was going to be raised as gender neutral, which raised eyebrows but was very Paloma.

She’s definitely a ‘she’ now? ‘Yes. I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to be a boy, but I wouldn’t call her a “they” unless she told me to. But it was nothing to do with her choosing her own gender, it was about privacy. When I had her I was in shock. I nearly died in childbirth [she had a PROM, or premature membrane rupture] and I was scared. I didn’t want to put a foot wrong or have her in the public eye. Now she’s got her own life. She’s at nursery and the other parents don’t care who I am.’

Is she a girly girl? ‘She was offered fairytale or pirate stickers at the doctor’s the other day, and she took the pirate ones,’ she says, chuffed. ‘But I didn’t ban any toys. I think boys should have dolls because they teach about looking after human beings. If we don’t want our men to leave their kids strewn about, then we should be giving them dolls as babies.’