INSIDE BILLIE’S TEN-YEAR FEUD WITH HER EX
HER CO-PARENTING SITUATION IS ‘DIFFICULT’
Despite having been separated from Laurence Fox for nearly a decade, you can’t help but feel sorry for Billie Piper every time he decides to air his “anti-woke” views, which have been labelled racist and misogynist.
Despite this, Billie, 41, has kept a dignified silence about her feelings on her 45-year-old ex, with whom she shares sons Winston, 15, and Eugene, 11 – until now. In a recent interview with Vogue, the actress briefly opened up about their tumultuous relationship for the first time, saying, “If people want to try and understand the workings of the guy, they ought to ask him or his family. Ask [Fox’s brother-in-law, actor and comedian] Richard Ayoade what he thinks, or his wife [Fox’s actor sister] Lydia. They might have a more interesting take. 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.”
When asked about how she manages the co-parenting situation after the pair’s divorce was finalised in 2016, Billie responded, “With enormous difficulty”, before adding, “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. I try to keep people from telling me stuff, but it’s hard. I don’t read it, but everyone wants to talk about it. Sometimes I have to say to people, ‘Don’t bring this to me, now or ever’.”
Laurence hit back at her claims on social media. He wrote, “I have never tried to deny our boys access to their mum, and I would never wish her anything other than a stable family. My only focus these past years has been to be present in their lives and be a loving dad.
I’m not perfect, but I’ve done my absolute best to put the kids first. The reason co-parenting is hard is because the secretive family court system is hugely weighted towards the mother.
It is a system totally unfit for purpose.”
After meeting while working on a play in 2006, Laurence and Billie wed on New Year’s Eve in 2007, but following attempts to resolve their “bad marriage” (Laurence’s words), Billie filed for divorce citing “unreasonable behaviour”. ■