Louise Redknapp offered a rare glimpse into her family life during an appearance on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch. The singer, 51, joined the popular breakfast programme to discuss her Naked Confessions music tour, alongside fellow guests Bradley Riches, Dawn O'Porter, Adam Lambert, singer Debbie and Leila Farzad in the studio.
During her chat with hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer about her tour and musical career, Tim, 58, asked: "How do the boys feel about it? Because they've grown up now, haven't they?". Louise wittily responded: "I mean, they take absolutely no notice of me. I am just their mum."
Host Simon, 63, then pressed further: "But have you gone from that phase of them thinking, 'this is what mum does', because they're little, to them being sort of thinking, 'I don't care what you do, you're still my mum and you annoy me', to kind of being slightly embarrassed by it. Are they not now at the point where they're going like, 'I'm proud of you!'"
Louise replied: "Yeah, I think so. So my youngest yesterday, he's in Paris with his girlfriend. [He's] 17. I rang him, like you do as a mum, and he ignored me like he does as my son. And then he texts me, he was like, 'Oh, can we go on holiday next week for a few days?' And I was like, 'Oh, I'm just about to go on stage.' [And he said] 'Oh, yeah, good luck. Kiss.' You know, that's about as much support as I get. But no, I think secretly they're sort of proud. I think they just want me to be happy."
Speaking about her sons now being older - Louise shares Beau, 17, and Charley, 21, with her ex-husband Jamie Redknapp - the singer revealed: "I hate them not coming home. I hate it when they're not home all the time, though. Mine are away a lot. Like their dad, or football, or work. I'm like, 'when are you coming home?' But I mean, they're still there, but just not as much as I like."
During another part of the conversation, Louise discussed how vastly different being a performer today is compared to the 1990s. The star explained: "I mean, back in the 90s you had a lot more privacy as in no social media. No comments. I mean, now the comments section always like freaks me out. I just can't believe people say stuff." When questioned whether she looks at comments about herself online, Louise confessed: "I try not to. Now and again it's sort of like that sort of self-harm gets the better of you. You read the first one and you think, 'well, maybe there'll be a better one.' I'm like no!"
Louise continued: "But yeah, I try not to. I think it's taken me a long time to get there, though. I mean, I'd say I've only really entered into that phase." The performer went on: "I think you do find your confidence and maybe I'm just at an age now where I care a lot less what people think and I know what's important in life."
Sunday Brunch airs on Sunday at 10am on Channel 4.
