Begin Again with Davina McCall - Begin Again Moments: Daughters Becoming Mothers | Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Katie Piper

Episode Date: July 11, 2026

In this heartfelt episode of Begin Again Moments, we bring together two moving conversations about the powerful relationship between mothers and daughters, and how the way we are raised can shape the parents we become. Sophie Ellis-Bextor reflects on her close relationship with her mother, Janet Ellis, and the influence her childhood has had on the way she raises her own children. From growing up with a famous working mother to having a strong, grounded family around her, Sophie shares the lessons she has carried into motherhood and the importance of creating a safe place her children will always want to return to. Katie Piper then receives an emotional letter from her mother, Diane, reflecting on Katie's extraordinary journey through trauma and recovery, and the strength, resilience and compassion she now passes on to her own daughters. Katie shares how becoming a mother has allowed her to carry forward the greatest gifts her own mother gave her, while using the wisdom of everything she has lived through to shape the parent she wants to be. Together, these moments explore the invisible threads that pass from one generation to the next, the lessons we inherit, the love we carry forward, and the profound journey of daughters becoming mothers. To hear the full conversations, watch the complete episodes on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

I'm fascinated by, obviously I'd love to talk to you about you and Richard and your boys, but something that fascinates me personally is that you were the child of famous parents. I mean, your father, perhaps people might not have known him. No, yeah, he wasn't in public. No, but he was famous within his own world. He was well known in his own world, but your mum was mega to famous, to like everybody. I remember your mum so clearly on the television. She was weekly, you know, she was in our living rooms weekly on Blue Peter, Janet, mega woman.

And then you have gone on to become a famous parent yourself. That is such a unique situation. There aren't that many women, I don't think, that have done that. And I'd be very, because it's been a real worry for me as a famous mother on how will this affect my children. Yeah. How can I keep them safe? How can I not, I mean, I spend a lot of time when I was younger trying not to embarrass them. I don't care anymore.

No, me neither. But sorry kids. Sorry, kids. Sorry, sorry about that. But I would love to hear your tape because that's so unique. Having Janet has a mum. What was life like being the child of a famous mother? Right.

Well, firstly, I'd say, you know, objectively, us worrying is a bit pointless because whatever family are boiling into the family dynamic affects who you are. So it doesn't matter. Yes. You don't get away. No. There's no further about your family damage. Oh, that's, yes.

Okay. So don't worry. It's like just how it works, isn't it? Sorry. That's actually kind of brilliant. Like if I was famous or not. Yeah. Be free from that, worry.

Because your family dynamic is 100% what affects you. You know when you sit like, you're like, oh my God, that is literally the first time I've thought about that. Oh, that is mega. Yes. God, thank you. Well, no, not at all. It doesn't matter whether you're famous or not or who you are.

Your family dynamic will be affected. Yes. Oh, God, really. Okay. Yeah. Wow. I'm going to be thinking about that tonight. Oh.

That's brilliant. Thank you. Wow. Okay. Yes. Yes. And also, I realized as soon as you started talking about my parents, I started smiling a lot because I'm very close to my parents.

and with my mum geographically, we live about 10 minutes away from each other. The dream is because I really hope someone my kids do that with me, please. They will. They definitely. Or I'm going to them. No, I reckon you have a similar vibe to with your kids. I bet there's my mum had with me, which is like the same way. I'm going to do it, by the way, strong matriarch vibes of just stay close, get in touch, keep communicating with each other, check in.

It's so important. So yes, I see my mum. Sometimes I'll be walking the kids to school and the bit of park we walk through. I'll see my mum walking her dog. So it's all pretty wholesome. We see bump into Grandma quite a lot. Oh, that's so nice. Yes, I love it.

Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I love that. And I think with my mom, look, I mean, it would be, I can see that there must be some seeds that were sown from what my mum did that somehow worked into what I was going to do for sure. What sort of seeds? One of them is really embarrassing. But this is really not going to be good life. This is great.

I can't wait. No, go on. Tell me. Well, I would love to say it was all to do with work ethic. But I just remember when I was, I think it must have been my seventh birthday. And we went to Madden Two Swords. And because my mom was on Blue Peter, we got to go straight in the front. And I think I was a bit like, that's pretty cool.

And I do. appreciate it does not pick, I was seven. That is like, that's like high currency when you're small. So that's probably a little seed there, isn't it? But I also, speaking to the front of the Madam Two Swords. Oh my goodness. Yeah. How does this work? What? Sorry, how does that work? That's cool. What would your kids think was cool about you now? What have you done for them where they'd go, oh, this is Ace. Oh. It's quite an interesting. I'm trying to think of anything that I've done for my. kids which they would think was mega because I don't take them to anything right I think at some point it's been quite good trips yeah abroad like when you're doing gigs

yes so last year I got invited to sing for Mardi Gras and Bondi Beach in Sydney like brilliant and I'd been away a lot a little bit already by that point in the year February and I took Jesse who was then eight and we were only there four days and they flew us there business class and And so Jesse gets on the plane before we've been taken off and he was pressing all the buttons. And he went, hold on a minute, was this expensive, these tickets? And I said, yes, Jesse, very. And he went, it's worth it.

I was like, oh no. How is he going to? This is a long way down, isn't it? From like a business past flight to Australia. He was so happy. He was a great travelling companion. He was like Tom Hanks and Big when he's pressing all the buttons in the car. I'm like, woo-hoo.

Isn't it special when you've got five kids? You've got five boys and you can go away with one. I love it. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. There's not enough time in the year, really, to take them all away. But I think as you get older and you aren't working non-stop. Yeah.

I took one of my kids away on their own for a week last. This year. Yeah, this year in April, Holly, my oldest. Yeah. And it was a joy. That is really nice. I actually think, because my kids are still. quite little, that is actually one of the biggest privileges of having such amazing support

because I've got brilliant support with people who help me look after the kids when I'm working, but it also means I can size, do things with them one-on-one. And I actually think that is, that's invaluable, being able to do that if you've got, you know, lots of children. What we're talking about? My mom. So, yes. So the other seeds, I mean, yeah, my mum absolutely loved what she did.

So she adored presenting Blue Peter. And Blue Peter was, it's very strange for me to even. talk about it now because it's almost, I think of it like a sibling, which sounds really odd and maybe a little sad. No, you shared your life with it. I did, but particularly that bit of my childhood because my mum was presenting the show while she was a single mother. So I would spend most of my time with her, I'd go to my dad every other weekend, and she finished the show when she was having my brother. So this chapter, it was like my, yeah, the sibling I had during that time when it was a lot of the time just me and her.

And I think, yeah, I could see how much they love what they did. I like the fact that it opened my eyes to having a job that wasn't a traditional job. So when the opportunity came to go on tour with my band, my parents, even though it was a slightly different world to theirs in music, that suited me too because it felt like my thing. But I also didn't have any sort of dreamy world around it. I could see the nuts and bolts of what I do. The reality of it.

Exactly. And I think that's a privilege too because it had been around me so I could think in those terms. And I am aware that, you know, it's funny because when you're young and starting out, you don't want to think anything's been easier for you because it's hard for everybody when you got out. But looking back, I'm like, wow, I had so many aces in my pack in terms of, you know, growing up in London, a time when people from record companies would go out and actually go and watch gigs and suddenly... I mean, all these privileges are on my dogs, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And the fact that my, this is actually probably the biggest one, because my parents worked in a similar field, they never, and my family haven't,

they never became my fans, which sounds like a really odd statement. No, that's interesting. But it can really shift things. And they never were starstruck by any element of anything I got up to, which meant I had such a solid home base, such a grounding. Yes.

They didn't. It was lovely if I'd enjoyed the things I was going up to, but really they always wanted to check in how was I feeling about emotionally, how was what was going on at home, how was my relationship at the time, was everything in order for, you know, could I pay my rent, all those sorts of things. It was quite practical and emotionally led and not, you've sold how many units you're going to this country? That was at the end of the conversation. So that was a benefit to. It's so interesting because I had never thought about that that if you become famous, your parents sort of become fans and how nice it would be to have somebody, yes.

Or at least bit starstruck the whole thing. Yeah. Or it's unfamiliar, you know? They might not know what they're entitled to. Yeah, they're entitled to help you. So those things can, those things help me for sure. And all the kind of things that I was saying about you at the beginning about being just down to earth and normal

I see you as kind of a humble a humble superstar Wow No but that's how I see you Like you are really well known Everybody knows who you are But you are You've got your feet on the ground

And now that makes real sense You say in that I can completely understand That they would know exactly what you needed Yeah And Janet would know This is what I could have done with Yeah.

I'm going to let me give this for Sophie. Yeah. And she's still in that role now. Is she? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm lucky.

I do have a lot of people that give me lots of support. So nothing I do is happening on its own, really. There's support of my redirection, including Richard, of course. Obviously, we've just talked about becoming a mother. And I know that you and your mum became very close, really, when you moved back. home. Yeah. And my dad as well. He was a big part. Yeah. Yeah. But your mum has written you a letter. Really? Oh my God. I'm surprised. And I, if it's all right with you, I'm going to read it to you. Okay. Are you okay? Yeah. She would have hated to do that. So tell me why you're

surprised. Because my mom is just like traditional and strong and stoic and, you know, like she's so loving, but she's like, you've just got to get on with it, dear. You know, you really have. And she's not gushy. She's, She wouldn't like to go on telly. I had to force her to be in my dock. You know, she's just, it's like a different generation and she's just not like that. And I wouldn't want her to be any other way. But she's very private, you know.

Would it be fair to say that your relationship, you got closer later in life? Yeah. Deeper. Yeah. Like all relationships, you know, like my childhood, she, like I always knew at the center of my mom's life was us, us three. I was the middle child. And with my mum, she worked as a teacher, then she worked in waitrose, then she was a childminder,

then she was a teaching assistant. And at the centre of my mum's life was our education and our stability. And she was the taxi and took us to every hobby, you know. But then, you know, I'm ashamed to say then in my teens, like, I really like majored against her. You know, I was a difficult teen. And I think she found it hard to make sense of that. and I think my trauma and that recovery like united us and we found each other well we chose each other because you don't choose your mum do you but you have later in life you know if it was a good relationship because you do fly home yeah god in recovery I chose my stepmom okay you ready oh god okay all right dear kate I was looking through some photos of you the other day and it made me reflect on how far you've come since that dreadful day in March 2008

As a mother, it was heartbreaking to see you hurt, to see you so badly damaged and feeling so helpless in the face of your pain. But what stands out to me the most is the incredible strength you showed even in those early days. When everything seemed uncertain and the future looked so hard, you refused to let it define you. You turned a dreadful situation into an opportunity to grow and to become even stronger. It wasn't easy. There were setbacks, struggles and moments of doubt, but you kept going and you conquered one challenged after another. You kept that sense of humour that you had as a child and even in difficult times you managed to make us all smile. You proved to me and to yourself that no matter what life throws at you, you have the power to take control and overcome. Over the years I've had the privilege of watching you blossom. Your career has been a testament to your tireless work ethic and your stubborn determination.

And in addition to your career, you started your charity because you wanted to give back and make a difference. I've watched you work so hard on that too. That's who you are. A person who not only overcomes adversity, but who is driven to help others do the same. and then I've watched you become a mother. To see you with your girls, teaching them the same values I taught you, strength, resilience, kindness and determination has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I can see the love, the patience and the wisdom in your interactions with them.

You're passing down the very qualities that made you who you are today and I am so proud of you. As a mother, there's nothing more rewarding than seeing your child grow into the person you always hoped they would be. Strong, compassionate and capable of navigating the ups and downs of life with grace and courage. I am so proud of everything you've accomplished and even prouder of the amazing woman, wife and mother you've become. I'm going to end this letter with the best piece of advice I have ever given you. Just get on with it, dear. With all my love, mum. That's our private joke.

Just get on with it, dear. Said it in ICU. Yeah, it's, you can't go back and change things. But when you become a mum, you can give the memory. everything. And I don't want to see everything I didn't have because I had everything. But the greatest gift my mum has given me is to be able to parent. And that's what I'm trying to do, parent them, like she parented me, but with the wisdom of some of the other things that happen to me that I'll never be able to change. And I'm so private about my children. You know, I don't put them on social,

I don't take them to work things. And I want them to have that agency and that and nominity to go out into the world and fuck everything up and enjoy life and be who they want to be and I want to keep them so safe but not be like a helicopter mum you know I want them to choose me and fly home to me but go out there and I don't know if mum knows this but she did do that for me even though we like butted heads quite a lot but I was allowed to butt heads of her because I knew we'd never fall out. She's safe. Yeah.

And I hope I create that. I mean, I'm already there with my eldest where she's like, can you stop walking next to me on the street when we walked to school? I'm like, sorry. So sorry. Like I went to Careers Day on Monday for years six. And I was like, did a 30 minute talk about being a writer and a TV presenter.

And I was like, did you like it? And she was like, why did you wear the cardigan with feathers on? Oh my God, because I'm jassy. I'm jassy. I touched the small of my son's bat a couple of years ago. I've never touched him since. I was like, I'm really sorry. I touched him.

And it's hard because I'm not, in some ways I am the mum my mum was, but in other ways I'm not because my mum dedicated her life to us and she sacrificed her career. And I'm not ashamed to say I don't, I don't, I sacrifice parts of my career. Of course I do. But I am a career woman, which is different. to what my mom was, you know. And she's had opinions on that too, and I understand that.

But Richie's a good dad, and we work together as a team, you know. But yeah, I'm so grateful to my mom and dad that they gave me all of this so that I could be who I am today. That's why all that I am is them, not what happened to me. Yes. Absolutely. And this is the overriding message. I'm going to end with me holding this book because everybody should get this book.

No, honestly, Katie, I knew you a bit before. But I read this and I really know you. And I like you so much. Your message in this book is brilliant for everybody. Everyone in life should read this book. I feel like me and you have just run a marathon together with no refreshments. Yeah. I feel like kind of exhausted.

Yeah. Weird. Yeah. But in a good way, I am happy, exhausted. This is, well, I just love what you're doing because I don't know, could I have done this interview like 10 years ago and what would have been the platform? Like, I feel like I couldn't. And I feel like what I can do here with you is say things that might have been like a seat, not a secret, but just I just don't know if there was like the. space for that, you know, and that you haven't, you know, I've done interviews in the past with

women and it, and it feels like they want to catch you out and it's accusation or there's, that is weird ownership and blame and I don't know, I just feel like what your creating is really special. Well, God. And I respect you so much. So coming from you, that's really high praise and I thank you very, very, very much for that. It helps lots of people. Katie, you help lots of people. Can we, can we just quickly mention your charity? Can we just Would you just mention it by name just in case anybody's watching that might need a bit of help? We will obviously put a link to it as well everywhere. So we're a national charity, the Katie Piper Foundation.

We're there for anybody who's had traumatic scarring or a burn injury. We fund rehabilitation, scar management, psychological support. And we support partners and family as well as the survivor. And we always need people to do crazy things for us to raise money as well. And any volunteers? Do you ever need volunteers or people to help you? Yeah, it's about community. And that's the thing that, as you've heard, talking to me at length,

it doesn't take just the survivor or one person to help somebody, any recovery, whatever it is, whether it's a benefit. Take the village. It takes a village and that's what we always need. So we're always grateful for anybody in any capacity. Katie, I really love you. I love you too. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for trusting me. Coming here, I was like, I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't know if I've got anything to say. What have I got to say? compared to other guests. Someone's really worried. Isn't that like...

And it's not just what you've said. It's... It's what we've learned. Yeah. I've really enjoyed it. Is that weird... Is that a weird word to say? I've enjoyed it.

I've enjoyed every second of it. It was amazing. Thank you.