Billie Piper admits it’s ‘really hard’ not to react to ex-husband Laurence Fox’s scandals and she protects their sons by ‘keeping them close to her’ as she finally breaks silence on toxic split: ‘It is enormously difficult co-parenting’

Billie Piper has finally broken her silence on ex-husband Laurence Fox six years after their ‘quickie divorce’. 

The actress shares sons Winston, 12, and Eugene, eight, with the controversial activist and the pair were embroiled in a lengthy custody dispute after their split. 

In 2022, Laurence, 45, publicly spoke out about their arrangement, claiming Billie was using their children as ‘weapons’ and that he had been denied access to seeing them. 

While Billie, 41, maintained a dignified silence at the time, she has now spoken out about their complicated relationship in a candid interview with British Vogue. 

Asked how she navigates co-parenting with Laurence, Billie shared: ‘With enormous difficulty.’

She continued: ‘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…

‘What is paramount for me is the privacy and anonymity of my children. They deserve not to be extensions of the parents and to forge their own identities.’

Billie added that she tries to avoid hearing anything about her ex, who has hit headlines in recent weeks for a slew of controversies. 

He was recently dropped from GB News after launching into a ‘sexist’ rant about a female journalist and lost a high profile libel case after calling two men ‘paedophiles’. 

Yet Billie does her best to avoid being drawn into his scandals, explaining: ‘I try to keep people from telling me stuff but it’s really, really hard. 

‘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.”‘

While she doesn’t want to spend her time discussing her ex-husband she admitted: ‘Of course I have feelings on that, I’m not dead inside.’ 

Billie added: ‘I’ve had to make some choices and a divorce speaks for itself… or at least it should! You have to laugh because it’s a lot. It’s a good way of kind of soothing yourself.’ 

Despite discussing the difficulties of Laurence she revealed that there has been a ‘positive’ in their divorce and custody battle. 

She reasoned: ‘It’s made me 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. It’s really f***ing hard. I hate that.’ 

Yet she confessed that she isn’t the best person to ask about Laurence, saying: ‘Look, if people want to try and understand the workings of the guy, they ought to either ask him or his family. 

‘Ask [Fox’s brother-in-law, actor and comedian] Richard Ayoade what he thinks, or his wife [Fox’s actor sister] Lydia. They might have a more interesting take.’

Billie first met Laurence in a theatre rehearsal room in 2006 and they tied the knot the following year when she was 25.  

It was her second marriage, following her controversial union with DJ Chris Evans, whom she wed when she was 18 and he was 35 – yet Billie has no bad words about her first husband, labelling him ‘one of the good guys.’ 

Most recently she was dating singer Johnny Lloyd but the couple quietly separated last year after eight years together. They share five-year-old daughter, Tallulah. 

There seems to be no bad blood between the pair, with Billie labelling Johnny ‘a very good man’. 

She confessed in her Vogue chat that her late 20s and early 30s were a period of unrest for her and she felt ‘unhinged and mentally not well’. 

Billie recalled: ‘There was something very, very sobering about that time and letting go of people that weren’t very healthy for me. Unfortunately, a lot of that has been in relation to men I suppose.’ 

She tied-the-knot with Laurence in a low-key parish church ceremony on New Year’s Eve in 2007, after a few drinks in the local pub.

They were married in a 50-minute ceremony at a village church near their £750,000 home in Eastbourne, West Sussex, with the actress wearing a formal, low-cut wedding dress in ivory with a flash of pink.

It was Billie’s former husband Chris and his new wife, Natasha Shishmanian, that made the guest list somewhat unusual.

The presenter was also the first person to visit the newly-married couple’s home, with the trio chinking glasses in a cordial toast before Chris drove to his own country pile, just a few miles away.

Laurence and Billie went on to welcome two sons.

However, the pair confirmed they had separated after eight years of marriage in 2016, and insisted that ‘no third parties involved’ in their split.

A post on his official Facebook account at the time read: ‘Laurence Fox and Billie Piper have separated. No third parties are involved. For the sake of our family we request and appeal for space and privacy at this time.’

The pair were granted a ‘quickie divorce’ in a court ruling that took just 50 seconds, citing unreasonable behaviour.

The actress, was not present when her request for a decree nisi from the actor was granted on the grounds that the marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’ on the grounds of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

At the time of their split, they stated their intention to ‘co-parent their children with the utmost mutual respect for each other’.

But between 2016 and 2017, Laurence and Billie then became embroiled in a lengthy custody dispute over access to their children.

The proceedings concluded in the Family Division of the High Court in December 2017 and Laurence previously claimed that they drained his finances.

The actor said that he’d been forced to put his career on hold so that he could help their children cope with the aftermath of the split.

Speaking in January 2018, he said: ‘I was certainly in a very dark place at one point – at my lowest ebb. I almost felt like I couldn’t go on. It all felt so hopeless.

‘With divorce, you immediately lose half the time you’d spend with the kids. That in itself is a mental health crisis. But, like everything, these feelings pass and you start to feel stronger with every day.

‘Men no longer feel comfortable talking about relationships, and for the men who bottle it, it can be disastrous – they end up throwing themselves off buildings.’

After his court proceedings, Laurence started campaigning to transform the family court system, which he described as ‘unnecessarily adversarial’.

At the time, he said: ‘Actually I feel really sad. The process didn’t need to be so long, drawn-out and adversarial.

‘And ours was quick, because we have cash. I feel the children have been robbed of their young lives. It’s been half of Eugene’s life.’

In 2022, Laurence brought their custody dispute back into the public eye when he accused Billie of denying him access to their children, alleging that he has not been able to see or speak to his eldest son Winston on his 14th birthday.

He penned: ‘It is [my son’s] birthday tomorrow and his mother has denied him any access to see or speak with me, I am using my platform to highlight what child alienation does to families. Kids need both parents.

‘Don’t be the parent who refuses to let their sons speak to their dad, especially on their birthday. Don’t be that parent. Put children first. Don’t use them as weapons.

‘It is so bad for kids. Child alienation needs to be talked about openly, along with all other child abuse.’

But Twitter users were quick to hit back at his allegations and accused him of using his children as ‘weapons’ – which he accused Billie of – by sharing the ranting post.

From Billie Piper’s booze-fuelled marriage with Chris Evans to bitter divorce battle with Laurence Fox… the star’s complicated relationships as she ‘splits from her boyfriend of eight years Johnny Lloyd’ 

It’s unlucky in love again for Billie Piper as she has reportedly split from her boyfriend Johnny Lloyd after eight years together.

The former Doctor Who star, 41, and the singer, 38, who share five-year-old daughter, Tallulah, decided to end their romance after lockdown had a major impact on their relationship, according to The Sun on Sunday.

It’s not the first relationship to seemingly turn sour for the actress; she’s been divorced twice and involved in a bitter custody battle with her ex Laurence Fox. 

She famously married her first husband Chris Evans back in 2001, after dating for six months, aged just 18, with the 16-year age gap between the pair sparking controversy. 

So, amid reports that the end of Billie’s relationship to Johnny was ‘very sad’ and they are ‘better off apart’, FEMAIL takes a look at the star’s complicated relationship history… 

CHRIS EVANS 

Fans of Billie Piper were shocked when it emerged that she and Chris Evans had tied the knot in a casual Las Vegas wedding in 2001 – with just six guests.

The couple has only met a year earlier when she appeared on his TV show TFI Friday in 2000 – the next day, he sent a £110,000 Ferrari filled with roses to her home (she couldn’t drive at the time). 

She was just 18, when she wed Chris who was 16-years old her senior, sparking controversy.

The duo married in a secret Las Vegas ceremony at the Little Church of the West for which she wore flips flops and a sarong. The groom was equally casual, donning an open-necked shirt.

An 18-month sabbatical followed as the couple travelled the world, before settling at Chris’ country estate in Hascombe, Surrey. 

The couple split three years later in 2004 and the divorce was finalised in 2007, they remained on good terms with Billie likening the marriage ‘to being in your university years’.

She did not request a single penny of his estimated £30million fortune, and although citing irreconcilable differences on their divorce papers, they remained close afterwards.

Billie previously recalled how she got ‘completely hammered for three years’ with her ex-husband when she was feeling burnt out from her teen pop career. 

Speaking on David Tennant Does A Podcast With… in 2020, Billie said she had an ‘amazing time’ with Chris and described the relationship as ‘very loving.’

And when Billie had a public ‘meltdown’ in 2006, it was no surprise that it was her estranged husband to which she turned. 

Suffering from stress over her forthcoming stage debut in the intense emotional drama Treats, she was seen making a teary mobile phone call close to the rehearsal rooms where final preparations were being made for the play’s opening night.

Minutes later, Chris appeared, accompanying her to a pavement café where he tenderly held her hand as she sobbed uncontrollably.

MATT SMITH

After her marriage broke down, Bille Piper was seem looking cosy with Matt Smith, who played Doctor Who – three years before he scored the role.

Meanwhile, Billie played the Time lord’s famous assistant since its 2005 revival, while he was an unknown actor propelled to fame when chosen to star in the BBC series. 

Pictured holding hands at a Surrey fete in 2006, the pair stroll together through the crowd, drinking Pimms and enjoying the sunshine.

At this point, the two actors had just been reunited on the set of ITV2’s Piper vehicle, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, in which Smith had a minor role. They had previously worked together on BBC drama The Ruby in the Smoke.

Although Smith and Piper never announced they were officially a couple, a friend who was with them on the day they visited the fete says their chemistry was unmistakeable.

‘They were very touchy-feely and seemed really at ease with each other,’ they said. ‘Everybody assumed they were a couple by the way they were acting.’

The friend added that the two actors did not go unnoticed by the crowd. ‘A lot of people were talking about how good they looked together,’ they said.

‘They were definitely having a great time. Obviously everyone knew who Billie was – but Matt wasn’t at all famous then. It’s amazing to think he has gone on to star in Doctor Who.’

LAURENCE FOX 

Chris Evans was not Billie’s only husband – she also was married to Laurence Fox, who was famous for coming from an acting dynasty, and now for his political commentary work.

Billie first met Laurence in a theatre rehearsal room in 2006, they went on to marry a year later – she was granted a ‘quickie’ divorce from him in 2016.

She tied-the-knot with Laurence in a low-key parish church ceremony on New Year’s Eve in 2007, after a few drinks in the local pub.

They were married in a 50-minute ceremony at a village church near their £750,000 home in Eastbourne, West Sussex, with the actress wearing a formal, low-cut wedding dress in ivory with a flash of pink.

It was Billie’s former husband Chris and his new wife, Natasha Shishmanian, that made the guest list somewhat unusual.

The presenter was also the first person to visit the newly-married couple’s home, with the trio chinking glasses in a cordial toast before Chris drove to his own country pile, just a few miles away.

Laurence and Billie went on to welcome two sons, Winston, 12, and Eugene, eight.

However, the pair confirmed they had separated after eight years of marriage in 2016, and insisted that ‘no third parties involved’ in their split.

A post on his official Facebook account at the time read: ‘Laurence Fox and Billie Piper have separated. No third parties are involved. For the sake of our family we request and appeal for space and privacy at this time.’

The pair were granted a ‘quickie divorce’ in a court ruling that took just 50 seconds, citing unreasonable behaviour.

The actress, was not present when her request for a decree nisi from the actor was granted on the grounds that the marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’ on the grounds of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

At the time of their split, they stated their intention to ‘co-parent their children with the utmost mutual respect for each other’.

But between 2016 and 2017, Laurence and Billie then became embroiled in a lengthy custody dispute over access to their children.

The proceedings concluded in the Family Division of the High Court in December 2017 and Laurence previously claimed that they drained his finances.

Actor Laurence revealed that he’s been forced to put his career on hold so that he can help their children cope with the aftermath of the split.

But rather than throwing himself head-first into his work, he’s had to become a full-time father to his two children.

Meanwhile Billie – who shares sons Winston, 12, and Eugene, eight, with her ex-husband Laurence Fox – told The Guardian: ‘I know about dysfunctional relationships. I know about what it costs to be a woman.’

JOHNNY LLOYD

Now Billie Piper has reportedly split from her boyfriend Johnny Lloyd after eight years together.

The former Doctor Who star, 41, and the singer, 38, who share five-year-old daughter, Tallulah, decided to end their romance after lockdown had a major impact on their relationship.

Sources told The Sun on Sunday that the end of their relationship was ‘very sad’ and they are ‘better off apart.’

A source told the publication that Billie and Johnny actually split last year.

They said: ‘It’s obviously very sad that the couple have gone their separate ways.

‘But the relationship ran its course and they decided they would be better off apart. Like many couples, lockdown was quite tough for them, so they have had time to really think about what they want their future to look like.

‘They will always treasure the time they had together and have many happy memories.

‘Now they are concentrating on co-parenting their daughter and their separate careers.’

MailOnline has contacted Billie’s representatives for a comment.

Former Doctor Who star Billie was previously married to DJ Chris Evans, who is 17 years her senior, and actor-turned-political activist Laurence Fox, 45, with whom she has two sons.

Billie and Johnny welcomed their daughter Tallulah in January 2019 after it was confirmed in July 2018 that Billie was expecting her first child with the rocker.

A source told the Mirror at the time: ‘Billie and Johnny are delighted. They can’t wait to welcome the new addition to their family.’

She revealed she would love to have more children back in February, 2018, admitting: ‘In my dream world I’d have loads.’