Paloma Faith reveals Pride performance sparked empowering homosexuality conversation with her child
Paloma Faith has shared the conversation about homosexuality she had with her daughter, five, ahead of her Brighton Pride performance.
The singer, who headlined at the festival on Sunday night, revealed to Yahoo Life UK that her performance sparked a chat with her child that showed just how accepting children are.
“I’ve been out [into the park], I took my two ‘gaybies’ out there, dressed in rainbows!” the 41-year-old singer said backstage just before her show.
“My five-year-old – it’s the first time that she’s asked me questions. She keeps going, ‘Why do you keep saying it’s a gay festival?’ And I’m like, ‘Where men love men and women love women... and people – it doesn’t matter what they are – it's just love.
"It’s a festival and it’s all about just loving everyone for what they are and that’s okay.' She [her daughter] was like, ‘From now on, don’t ever say he or she, I’m a person!’ And I was like, 'Damn right!'”
“All kids are better [than adults]," Faith added.
“Basically everything that I've ever learned, I learned from them because they just think in the way that we should think.”
Faith, who has two children - her aforementioned five-year-old daughter and an 18-month-old daughter - with partner Leyman Lahcine hit headlines when she became a mother in 2016.
She said then: “I don’t differentiate gender because I don’t believe you should to a young child.” But she clarified her comments in 2020, saying: "“I was misunderstood – the media reported that I wasn’t dictating gender stereotypes.
"True, I don’t encourage gender rigidity with toys, but really, I was traumatised by the birth and protective of our privacy.
"I wanted her to develop into herself before the world decided who she was. I felt like a lioness. She makes me look at the world in a way I’ve neglected for a long time.”
Read more: Yahoo catwalk goes down a treat at Brighton Pride
The hitmaker opted not to reveal her firstborn's gender for the first few years of motherhood, sharing her daughter's gender in a candid interview about motherhood with Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast in 2020.
Faith gave it her all on stage at Brighton Pride, dancing her heart out and making her fans laugh and cheer in between songs – especially when she whipped off her boots on stage because they were "hurting" her feet, as well as her long red coat.
But Faith got the biggest reaction of all when she joked on stage how everyone is "pretty f***ed" – a wry reference to mental health, showing her relatable, down-to-earth side.
Read more: Family fun at Brighton Pride
The BRIT-award winning star took to the stage in a striking red PVC outfit, red platform boots and a matching buckle choker, which she told us was inspired by Sandy from Greece (the more ‘electrifying’ one after she’s been ‘prudish’).
Backstage, Faith told Yahoo Life UK she was “amazed and shocked… I just feel really honoured” to be asked to headline Sunday’s impressive roster of artists.
“Then they [the Pride organisers] were like, 'We want you to headline and I was like, ‘What?! Christina [Aguilera] on Saturday, me on Sunday!’ So, yes, I'm pretty stunned.”
Read more: Christina Aguilera uses Pride show to highlight Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill
Faith said she started her career lip-syncing and doing cabaret in East London, the hub of drag queen shows.
“That’s where I began," Faith told us. "And it feels amazing to come full circle and be re-embraced by the place that I started. I feel like I’m coming home in a way.”
Watch: Backstage at Brighton Pride on day two
