Billie Piper says she was put in ‘very strange, very adult situations’ as a teenager
Star says she would not subject her children to the kinds of situations she was placed in
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Billie Piper has said she would not “subject” her children to some of the situations she experienced as a young person.
The Olivier Award-winning actor, 38, shot to fame as a teenage pop star with her 1998 debut single “Because We Want To”.
Writing in The Big Issue’s “Letter To My Younger Self”, Piper recalled how she often found herself in “very strange, very adult situations” due to her success.
Piper has three young children – two sons, Winston and Eugene, with ex-husband actor Laurence Fox and a daughter with Tribes lead singer Johnny Lloyd, called Tallulah.
She said: “My teenage years are a period of my life that I’m reflecting on now for the first time in my adult life. There’s a lot of missing pieces to be honest, which I think speaks for itself.
“Those first few years were totally thrilling and I just felt like I was living a dream of mine. But I was often in very strange, very adult situations that I wouldn’t subject my own kids to at 16.
“Actually, my real take-away from my 16th year is just how exhausted I was, because I was a teenager going through everything a teenager goes through, but very publicly.”
The former Doctor Who star, who recently appeared in the hit Sky Atlantic dramaI Hate Suzie and directed the film Rare Beasts, also wrote about how therapy had played an important role in her life.
“Therapy has been crucial to my getting better, so I’d tell my young self to get a therapist. I just don’t know how young kids cope any more, I really don’t. I think everyone’s super-anxious, or at least that’s how it feels to me.
“If you can get your kids any sort of mental health support or family therapy, just get it. There’s no shame in it whatsoever.
“When I think of characters like Suzie and Mandy [from I Hate Suzie and Rare Beasts], they might have had quite different lives if they’d had therapy.”
Piper recently said she was “extremely lonely” and “unbelievably unsafe” as a teenage pop star in an episode of Desert Island Discs.
Additional reporting by PA
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments