- Written by Alex Taylor
- BBC News Culture Reporter
Actress Billie Piper has opened up about how she's dealing with ex-husband Laurence Fox's recent controversial comments.
The I Hate Suzie star has two sons with actor-turned-right-wing commentator Foxx. They divorced in 2016.
Mr Fox was fired from GB News last year following an outcry over comments he made on air about female journalists.
Piper told Vogue that co-parenting with Fox was “very difficult” under these circumstances.
“I had to make some choices, and the fact that I got divorced speaks for itself,” she said.
Other controversies involving Fox include Ofcom's March ruling that his comments on an episode of GB News' Dan Wootton Tonight breached broadcasting rules.
The magazine's Giles Hattersley asked Piper, “What will happen when the storm of his creation explodes?”
She replied: “I shut everything down and keep a very strict routine with my kids to keep it consistent. I keep them close. That's all I can do.”
She added that she also doesn't like being told or asked about it.
“I try not to let people say anything to me, but it's really, really difficult,” she said.
“I haven't read the book, but everyone wants to talk about it. Sometimes I have to say to people, 'Please, keep bringing this to me. Please don’t.”
Piper, who stars in the upcoming Netflix movie Scoop, co-starring Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell and based on Newsnight's interview with the Duke of York, said she was “a lot of people” as she addressed the headlines about Foxx. It made me feel stronger in a sense.”
“I learned that I had a lot of resilience that I didn't know I had. I had to learn the hard way that you can only control yourself and how you react to things. I didn’t,” said the former pop singer and Doctor Who. Star.
She also said she keeps getting asked about her first husband, DJ Chris Evans, who is 16 years her senior.
“That was 20 years ago. It kind of makes sense to be constantly asked about my second husband, but still, we had been separated for almost 10 years, so I resented that.”
Foxx disputed Piper in an interview with Vogue, writing to X, “He took great exception to the claim that co-parenting with me would be extremely difficult.”
In a lengthy statement, he said: “I've never wanted anything more than a stable home for her, but it just doesn't seem to be happening for her. My only focus these past few years has been their life. “My goal was to be a supportive and loving father.” We're not perfect, but we've done our best to put our children first. ”
“Co-parenting is difficult because the secretive family court system places too much emphasis on mothers. It's a system that is completely unfit for purpose,” he suggested.
In 2021, he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of London as the Restoration Party candidate. Mr Fox had announced in January that he intended to appeal the High Court defamation case, but in June there was a by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a seat previously held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He also ran as a candidate.