Sophie Ellis-Bextor says she discusses toxic masculinity with her five sons
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.
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Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
54 years of groundbreaking LGBT TV that shaped what we watch today
In 2025, LGBT+ representation on TV still isn't perfect – but a lot of hard work has been done over the years to make sure things are better than they were. To celebrate the work done to make TV more accessible for everyone in the LGBT+ world, Metro has compiled seven examples of storylines that made things that little bit better each time (with some honourable mentions). From one of the first-ever LGBT+ characters on TV to groundbreaking British dramas of the 2000s, all the way through to a flagship 2010s Netflix series. The storylines chosen for consideration all fall between 1968, when the Hays Code was abolished, and 2015, when same-sex marriage was finally legalised across the United States. Implemented in 1934, the Hays Code rigidly enforced what was acceptable (and unacceptable) to be shown on TV in America, and it had far-reaching consequences in the UK as well. In the days since the disgraceful and dated guidelines were finally repealed, TV has come a long way – here are some milestone episodes that got us here. Across its eight years on TV between 1971 and 1979, American comedy series All in the Family gained a reputation for tackling tough subjects sensitively (for the era anyway). With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications! The series is credited with allowing the sitcom format to introduce more dramatic moments into episodic storylines while also dealing with serious topics in a lighthearted manner. It didn't waste any time, with its fifth episode – titled Judging Books by Covers – examining LGBT+ themes and introducing somebody who is widely believed to be one of the first openly gay characters on TV. In the episode, protagonist Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) makes disparaging remarks about an effeminate man named Roger and presumes he must be gay. However, later in the episode, Archie finds out that one of his old college football buddies, Steve (Phil Carey), is gay and learns a valuable lesson about how to treat other people. The brave episode was controversial from the get-go, with sitting US President Richard Nixon accusing the series of 'glorifying homosexuality' with its content. For its time, The Golden Girls had a subversive attitude from the beginning, focusing on four single, mature women sharing a house together in Miami, Florida. It wasn't afraid to tackle weighty subjects either, and often deftly handled tricky topics for the 1980s, with the writers facing sensitive plotlines fearlessly and head-on. In the season 2 episode Isn't It Romantic? – aired in 1986 – Dorothy (Bea Arthur) invites her friend Jean to stay at the house that she shares with Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Sophia (Estelle Getty). Soon it's revealed that Jean is a lesbian and that she has a crush on Rose, which instantly rubs Blanche up the wrong way – not because Jean is gay, but because Jean fancies Rose instead of her. The rest of the episode pokes fun at the scenario, but not at Jean's sexuality. Instead the script gets several big laughs out of how self-involved Blanche becomes. It wouldn't be the last time The Golden Girls took a glance at LGBT+ themes, with future storylines analysing the topic from different perspectives. To this day, The Golden Girls remains popular with the community, with one Reddit fan explaining: '[The girls] were confident, secure, and loved themselves for who they were. LGBT+ people who felt alienated with society identified with these outsiders.' 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Daily Mirror
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
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'Squid Game' ends with a whimper, but a big cameo
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Even the quiet, eyebrow-raising final moments, which suggest that the struggle for economic justice and equality might be utterly pointless, feel less like a philosophy and more like a real-life capitalist desire for more, more, more. Season 1 of "Squid Game" remains one of the most arresting, shocking and thought-provoking TV shows ever made, so much that it became a surprise worldwide hit on the strength of word-of-mouth alone. Seasons 2 and 3 are hollow echoes of that achievement. They don't negate what that first season did, but merely dampen its effect. It's hard to remain awed when you've had two seasons worth of just, "ah." Does Gi-hun survive the final game? When the finale episode begins, our hero Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is stuck in the last game with the late Jun-hee's newborn baby, who has become Player 222, and the baby's somewhat-of-a-dirtbag father Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan). 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In-ho's brother Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) finally makes it to the island he's been searching for these last two seasons. He arrives in time to see his brother take away the baby and set a self-destruct timer on the island. No-eul (Park Gyu-young), the games worker who has been trying to save a man with a sick daughter out of guilt for leaving her own daughter behind in North Korea, helps him escape from the island, and stays behind to burn records and feel sorry for herself. After witnessing Gi-hun's sacrifice, however, she decides not to let herself die, and evacuates the island with the rest of the workers. The VIPs make it out unscathed too, of course. They will never suffer any kind of consequence for their inhumanity. 'Squid Game': Where are they now Six months pass after the explosive end to Gi-hun's final games, and our remaining (living) characters have all moved on with their lives, or so they think. Jun-ho's loan-shark ally Mr. Choi (Jeon Seok-ho), is released from prison. Jun-ho has given up his quest and his career, but don't worry, his brother delivers him Jun-hee's baby and her 45.6 billion-won prize. One can only wonder with horror who has been taking care of that baby for her first half year. No-eul checks to make sure the father she rescued from the Games is still alive and thriving with his daughter. And she even gets good news of her own: The broker who helped her escape from North Korea has a lead on her own daughter's whereabouts. That same broker also brings us a blast from Season 1 past, reuniting the younger brother of Sae-byeok (the North Korean escapee who competed in the Season 1 games and finished third) with his mother. The Front Man remembers another family member who needs to be taken care of: Gi-hun's daughter Ga-yeong (Jo Ah-in), now living with her mother and stepfather in Los Angeles. In-ho shows up at her door with a box containing the personal effects of her father, and tells her he's dead. Inside is Gi-hun's blood-stained track suit and the debit card to his account, which In-ho has seemingly restocked with the billions of won that disappeared from Gi-hun's hotel headquarters. It's the same kind of quiet, unsatisfactory ending we saw in Season 1. That is, until the last few moments. Is 'Squid Game' getting an American spinoff? As In-ho drives away from Ga-yeong's house, his SUV stops at a traffic light across from a dirty L.A. alley, where he hears a loud slapping noise. Could it be? Yes, it is: A suited games recruiter and an American man are playing ddakji. And that recruiter isn't just anyone, it's freaking Cate Blanchett, who gives In-ho a knowing look before she goes back to slapping her prey. Then the credits roll. This A-lister cameo and revelation of an American version of the games can be interpreted in a few ways: Maybe it's just a coda that points out the true pointlessness and hopelessness of Gi-hun's rebellion. The games - and therefore wealth inequality, injustice and deep human cruelty - persist everywhere. One island off the coast of South Korea may have blown up, but no one will stop the wealthy from oppressing and crushing the poor. Or, if you are thinking about real-life capitalism, this may be a way for Netflix to introduce a U.S. spinoff. Whether that's a good idea, storytelling-wise, doesn't really matter in the great content machine that is Netflix (and, to be fair, all the other streamers, too). We'll just have to wait and see if a new show with a bloody version of Red Rover eventually hits our Netflix queues. Netflix has announced no plans for a spinoff; USA TODAY has reached out for further comment.
