Billie Piper: Why I was fearful of having a daughter

Billie Piper has confessed she was worried about having a daughter.

The former Doctor Who star is mother to two sons Winston, 10 and seven-year-old Eugene with ex-husband Laurence Fox and welcomed daughter Tallulah with musician boyfriend Johnny Lloyd in January.

Piper, 36, revealed to Stylist magazine: “I always worried about having a little girl. I was delighted and relieved, frankly, when I knew I was having boys. And I’ve adored having sons.

“I have been constantly surprised by them – how emotional, sensitive and thoughtful they are. The problem with men begins with the raising of boys, in my opinion.

Read more: Billie Piper pines for her first love

“We are too quick to shut them down as children and tell them to be strong when they feel vulnerable; to shame them and yet give them a false sense of entitlement. This has contributed to the creation of a man’s world and one I didn’t want for my daughter.”

The pop-singer-turned-actress - who has directed her first film Rare Beasts about a mother raising her son in a female revolution - penned a moving letter to her baby daughter as she guest edited the magazine.

She wrote: “Tallulah... you are so remarkable to me. You have restored – without knowing it – all my faith in strong female energy. I want to learn from you and revel in your beauty.

“You are not just female, you are other. And from listing all of my anxieties above (there are many and I promise to always work on myself), I’m at my most calm and able around you. You are powerful.”

Read more: Laurence Fox reveals how costly his divorce from Billie Piper was

The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl star opens up about therapy, anxiety and the pressures of motherhood as well as posing without make-up for the magazine’s cover.

Piper said: “Being a woman today is as hard as it was yesterday,' she declared. 'The landscape hasn’t changed that much really and although there are some glaring improvements there’s still a way to go.

“The world telling us we can have it all is very unhelpful. The reality is we can have one or two things successfully but that third thing will be seriously compromised and often that’s the relationships with our partners or our children and ultimately ourselves.”