Billie Piper says she resents being asked about Laurence Fox

The Doctor Who actress, 41, was married to actor turned political campaigner Fox from 2007 until 2016 and they have two sons together, Winston and Eugene.

She told British Vogue that she “had to make some choices and a divorce speaks for itself” and that his family, including his sister Lydia Fox and her husband Richard Ayoade “might have a more interesting take” on him.

Piper, who recently starred in I Hate Suzie and is in the upcoming Netflix film Scoop about the explosive Newsnight interview with the Duke of York, added that the privacy of her children is “paramount”.

Fox, 45, founded right-wing political group the Reclaim Party in October 2020, which is strongly associated with the “culture wars”, after an appearance on BBC show Question Time – which he claimed resulted in him being “cancelled from a 21-year acting career”.

Last year, the actor – known for his role as DS James Hathaway in detective series Lewis – was sacked as a presenter on GB News following comments he made about a female journalist.

Piper says that she has handled him hitting the headlines with “enormous difficulty”.

She added: “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.

“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.’”

Piper also said: “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****** hard… I hate that.”

She says she also continues to be asked about her first husband, the DJ Chris Evans, who is 16 years her senior.

“It was 20 years ago,” she added. “It makes slightly more sense to constantly be asked about husband number two, but even then I resent that because we’ve been separated for almost 10 years.”

Fox responded to Piper’s comments in a lengthy statement posted to X.

He said: “The reality is that not all marriages work out and the world isn’t perfect.”

Speaking about his children, he added: “My only focus these past years has been to be present in their lives and be a loving dad.

“I’m not perfect, but I’ve done my absolute best to put the kids first.”

“I take full responsibility for my role in the breakdown of our marriage. It takes two to tango, as they say,” he added.

Piper is currently in a relationship with Tribes lead singer Johnny Lloyd, with whom she shares a daughter called Tallulah.

This month, Ofcom said that comments made by Fox on Dan Wootton Tonight on September 26 “constituted a highly personal attack on (journalist Ava) Ms Evans and were potentially highly offensive to viewers”.

The media watchdog ruled they were “degrading and demeaning both to Ms Evans and women generally” and “clearly and unambiguously misogynistic”.

Following the ruling, Fox wrote on X, formerly Twitter that he was not “overly bothered about this anymore” and “could have expressed myself better, that’s life and I’ve said my bit”.

Wootton, who had previously apologised for the remarks off-air, left GB News after the Ofcom ruling saying that he was launching his own online platform and called on the Government to have the watchdog “reined in”.