Tamzin Outhwaite has opened up about co-parenting with her ex-husband, Lucifer star Tom Ellis, describing him as “in and out” of their children’s lives. The 54-year-old former EastEnders actress spoke candidly on the Parenting Hell podcast about the challenges following their 2014 split.
Outhwaite and Ellis were married for nine years after being introduced by actor James McAvoy. They share two children: Flo, 17, and Marnie, 12. Reflecting on the separation, Outhwaite said it happened when the children were “tiny,” with Marnie not yet one year old. Ellis now lives in Los Angeles, which Outhwaite said means he is “pretty in and out of their lives,” though she noted the children have “a lot of support.”
Outhwaite also revealed that her eldest child, Flo, came out as transgender around age 10 or 11. “I did have two daughters and now I have a son and a daughter,” she said. Describing the early days as “very distressing,” she admitted her initial reaction was to think it “ludicrous,” but she and the family sought therapy. “We worked together as a family and with outside help,” she said. Now, she describes her son as “incredibly funny, intelligent” and “thriving,” which brings her “relief and joy.”
Since the split, Ellis remarried screenwriter Meaghan Oppenheimer in 2019. Outhwaite was in a long-term relationship with filmmaker Tom Child, which recently ended, though she still calls him her “best mate.” She also commented on public debates around trans rights, saying the LGBT community “get a bit of a hard rap at the moment” and urging that “every situation is different.”
