Tamzin Outhwaite's first child comes out as transgender
Tamzin Outhwaite has revealed her eldest child Florence now identifies as a boy and goes by the name "Flo".
Tamzin Outhwaite's eldest child is transgender.
The former EastEnders actress has Florence, 17, and Marnie, 12, with her ex-husband, 46-year-old actor Tom Ellis - who she split from in 2014 - and Tamzin, 54, has now revealed her 17-year-old child identifies as a boy and goes by the name "Flo".
Speaking to comedians Rob Beckett, 39, and Josh Widdicombe, 42, on the latest episode of their Parenting Hell podcast, she said: "I've got two kids.
"And I did have two daughters, and now I have a son and a daughter. And that's quite easy for me to say now, but it wasn't maybe six or seven years ago."
Tamzin added that Flo came out as transgender when he was "about 10 or 11".
She said: "The maddest thing is, I suppose, is that it's not the most interesting thing about him. He's an incredible, incredibly funny, intelligent boy.
"And I'm watching him grow into a wonderful human who's very talented. And to see him thriving is just nothing but relief and joy for me, really. Because there were some dark times."
Tamzin recalled that period of Flo coming out was a "very distressing time".
She explained: "Until you're going through it yourself with your child, it's difficult to judge the situation.
"Initially, I would say, 'Don't be ridiculous.' I didn't say, 'Don't be ridiculous,' but my mind went, 'That's ludicrous.'
"Working back from that with talking, family therapy, therapy on Flo's side as well, talking with family and realising you're not alone.
"I think if you push back on a kid, they'll want to do the opposite of what their parent says. I didn't say, 'You can't be that,' but it was a distressing time.
"We worked together as a family and with outside help."
Tamzin revealed her ex-boyfriend - who she met in a yoga class in 2017 - of six years, Tom Child, was around for the "whole" of Flo's "transitioning period".
She said: "[He] has been around for the whole of like Flo's transitioning period, for the whole of Marnie becoming a girl that was discovering all sorts of stuff and boys, and so he is still a member of the family. We've not been together for over a year."
Following the period of "dark times", Tamzin admitted that her family is in a good place.
She explained: "Now we're in a really wonderful place as a family.
"Flo is in a wonderful place as a brilliant actor, singer, writer, and director in his sixth form at school. And Marnie is thriving.
"So instead of just trying to get through difficult times, we are now all thriving.
"And the relief and the joy is very tangible. It's lovely."
Flo is an actor, and he is "desperate" to get into comedy writing.
Tamzin shared: "He's an incredible actor and he's desperate to be like a writer, a comedy writer. So like you guys, Taskmaster, James Acaster, he's on all of the podcasts. He's like, he's all over it."
