Paloma Faith and her French boyfriend Leman Lahcine welcomed their first child in December 2016, and the singer has previously spoken out about her plans to raise her child as gender-neutral. The 36-year-old has now explained that she will never reveal her child's gender or name in order to let them live a normal life. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday's You magazine, she said: "I won't say whether I have a boy or a girl for privacy reasons. I want my child to go to normal schools and integrate with kids from different backgrounds as a human being, not as a child of a celebrity." She also explained to the publication that she dresses her child in gender-netural clothes, and that they play with toys aimed at both girls and boys.
Paloma Faith and Leman Lahcine are raising their child gender-neutral
The star added: "I’m not in denial of gender but I want my child to feel that everything is available to them. And I have absolutely no problem if my child grows up not feeling an affinity with the gender they were born with, or if they’re homosexual or straight or whatever. It’s important to me that they’re given all the opportunities to be the person they want to be." In the interview, Paloma also opened up about being raised single-handedly by her mum, who has suffered from a mass of health problems, including a brain tumour and cancer. Paloma said: "My mum has been ill my entire life but she was still an amazing single parent. She’s had a brain tumour since I was born; she had breast cancer, hormone problems and now she’s got high blood pressure. Having my own baby made me respect her even more."
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The star also opened up about her own upbringing
Last year, Paloma explained to journalists, including HELLO! Online, about how there had been a lot of misinterpretations about her parenting choices. Taking at the Global's Make Some Noise Night gala in London, she said: "There were a lot of people who misunderstood that I thought I would make someone who was gender-neutral for the rest of their life. What a weird concept anyway because you can't create that." And although Paloma had a difficult 20-hour labour, it hasn’t put her off having any more children. She said: "All women I know who have kids say they will do it again but it was the worse thing that they have ever done. But it's really worth it and you know you can survive it afterwards."
RELATED: Paloma Faith welcomes first child after 'difficult' birth