Paloma Faith denies claims she's raising her daughter gender neutral: 'I was misunderstood'
Singer gave birth to her first child in 2016
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Paloma Faith has denied reports that she is raising her child gender-neutral.
In 2016, the “Stone Cold Sober” singer welcomed her first child with long-term partner Leyman Lahcine. At the time, Faith chose not to publicly reveal the sex or name of the baby and said she wanted to avoid pressure on the child's own gender identification.
Speaking to the Mirror at the Q Awards in 2017, she said: “I just want them to be who they want to be.
“I'm loving being a mum. I want two or three kids in all and they'll be gender neutral.”
Now, days after finally revealing her child is a girl, the Voice Kids UK star has opened up about the claims and said she was “misunderstood” on the matter.
“I was misunderstood – the media reported that I wasn’t dictating gender stereotypes,” Faith said in a new interview with the Radio Times.
“True, I don’t encourage gender rigidity with toys, but really, I was traumatised by the birth and protective of our privacy.”
The “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” singer added: “I wanted her to develop into herself before the world decided who she was. I felt like a lioness.
“She makes me look at the world in a way I’ve neglected for a long time.”
Last week, Faith featured on Giovanna Fletcher’s “Happy Mum, Happy Baby” podcast and used she/her pronouns in reference to her child for the first time while revealing she had experienced a miscarriage in 2019.
“Last year I was trying again and it was strange because once my daughter turned 18 months I suddenly was like, ‘I want another one. This is the best’,” she said.
“Then I had a miscarriage and it’s sort of an ongoing thing.”
Discussing the reaction to her views on gender, Faith added: “I had people calling me a child abuser online for saying that, which was weird.
“And I think that’s sort of part and parcel of why I didn’t want that information out, and I still sort of withhold that.
“So if I’m with my child in public and someone comes over and asks to have their picture taken with me I never do it.”
The “Changing” singer also said she is pleased her daughter has “no idea” she is famous.
“At this moment my child has no idea that I'm famous or different from anyone else,” Faith explained.
“She does know I'm on TV because she's seen it, but she has no concept that that makes people treat me differently. And sometimes somebody might come over and say something to me and she'll say, why are they doing that?”
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