Billie Piper opens up about Laurence Fox comments

Actress Billie Piper has discussed how she deals with recent comments made by her ex-husband Laurence Fox, which sparked controversy.

The I Hate Suzie star shares two sons with actor turned right-wing commentator Fox; they divorced in 2016.

Fox was sacked by GB News last year after an outcry over comments he made on-air about a female journalist.

Piper told Vogue she co-parents with Fox in a situation like this with "enormous difficulty".

"I've had to make some choices and a divorce speaks for itself," she said.

Other controversies involving Fox include Ofcom ruling in March that his comments on an episode of Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News broke broadcasting rules.

Fox also lost a High Court libel case over a social media row in January with two people he called paedophiles on social media, and was arrested last October on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras.

The magazine's Giles Hattersley asked Piper: "What happens when a storm of his creation explodes?"

She responded: "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."

She added that she also dislikes being told or asked about it.

"I try to keep people from telling me stuff but it's really, really hard," she said.

"I don't read it but everyone wants to talk about it. Sometimes I have to say to people: 'Please don't bring this to me, now or ever'."

Piper, who stars in upcoming Netflix film Scoop, with Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell, about Newsnight's interview with the Duke of York, said dealing with press headlines over Fox had made her "feel stronger in many ways".

"I've learnt I have a lot of resilience I didn't know I had. I've had to learn the hard way that you can only control yourself and how you react to things," said the former pop singer and Doctor Who star.

She said she also continues to be asked about her first husband, the DJ Chris Evans, who is 16 years her senior.

"It was 20 years ago. It makes slightly more sense to constantly be asked about husband number two, but even then I resent that because we've been separated for almost 10 years."

Fox spoke in 2016 about mental health struggles after his divorce to Piper, telling the Mirror: "I think mental health is much undiscussed in this country, men especially are scared of it, but it's good to talk about feelings. There's only so much room in the cupboard to store them up."

In 2021 he unsuccessfully stood for London mayor as The Reclaim Party's candidate. Fox, who said in January he hoped to appeal his High Court libel case, also stood in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in June, a seat previously held by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.