A mother has broken the parenting taboo by bravely admitting that she does have a favourite child.
Vogue Williams is speaking to parents and their adult children to discuss subjects they’ve rarely, if ever, talked about in The Mail’s new podcast, The Apple & The Tree.
These are deep, intimate, and revealing conversations that move through love, grief, shame, sexuality, religion, addiction, identity and so much more, recorded in guest’s own homes, with Vogue unpacking what’s been shared at the end of each episode.
In the seventh episode, Vogue travels to Mitcham in south London to meet Ashley and his mother Denise.
Denise, 60, is well known in her community even through tough times in her life and when she struggled with her health. In her fifties, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a subsequent mastectomy, something Ashley said to this day he finds difficult to cope with.
Denise, from South London, admits that Ashley is her favourite child and her other children are aware of it
TV presenter Vogue Williams speaks to mothers and fathers and their adult children to discuss subjects they’ve rarely, if ever, talked about in The Mail’s new podcast, The Apple & The Tree
Denise is now eight years cancer free, fundraises to find a cure for the disease and says she got a tattoo that says ‘survivor’ across her chest.
Denise and Ashley’s father also split up when he was very young and they speak about why he is considered her ‘golden child’, despite him being in his thirties, on the podcast.
Vogue said: ‘I kinda love that you so openly choose a favourite child, I always say parents have a favourite child. Is Ashely your favourite?’
Denise then glanced over to her son and said: ‘He is. If I ask Ashley to do something, out of all four of my kids, he’s the first one to do it.
‘Ashley is a comedian, he’s always made me laugh, [even] if I’m unhappy or sick.’
Vogue then dug a little deeper and asked Denise how her other children may feel that she has a favourite.
‘The girls are not too happy about it. My oldest doesn’t really say anything. If I say “Oh Ashley, can you -” they’ll say “Oh Ashley is your golden child, Ashley always does everything for you!”
Denise said she loves the relationship she has with her son because she feels like they are friends but she still holds an important rank because she is his mother.
Vogue then said that Denise’s daughters needed to ‘step up their game’ to which Ashley then chimed in and replied: ‘Yeah, exactly.’
‘My brother used to be my favourite and now I’m the top dog,’ the presenter added.
The pair also speak about how how Denise and Ashley’s father split when he was really young
In the episode, the trio also discuss the absence of Ashley’s father and how that led to him feeling unsafe and unsettled.
When Vogue asked him about whether he ever discussed these feeling with his mother, he said: ‘I don’t think I ever spoke to her about it until I got older, because it’s not like I didn’t feel safe at all because my older brother was at home.
‘He did make me feel safe. But there was a point where he left home and then I became the ‘man of the house’.
‘I didn’t let them know I ever felt unsafe because I wanted them to feel safe. It was only when the fear left that I said “You know I was scared?”
Listen to the our podcast The Apple & The Tree, hosted by Vogue Williams on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. New episodes released every Friday.