Mary Portas’ five-year-old son slays in designer heels
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 13: Mary Portas attends The London Evening Standard Theatre Awards at The Old Vic Theatre on November 13, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images)
Mary Portas showed off a picture of her five-year-old son rocking some high heels.
The Mary, Queen of Shops host posted a snap on Instagram of her son Horatio styling some designer Robert Wun heels.
Portas wrote: “When the 5 year old slips into your hot new boots by @robertwun and rocks it. #mylittlebowie #sonofashion”.
Horatio has already got his runway look down, bringing the drama with an amazing pose.
He has expensive taste, too – the Robert Wun shoes generally retail for more than £1200.
People responded largely with praise rather than tedious Piers Morgan-esque trolling, which is a nice change.
Horatio is the youngest of the three of Portas children.
The Queen Of Shops and wife Melanie Rickey welcomed son Horatio in 2012 after he was conceived using IVF. Mary later revealed that it was actually her brother – Lawrence Newton – who had helped Melanie conceive the child.
Melanie Rickey and Mary Portas (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Liberty London )
In her memoir, Portas explains that she felt that Ms Rickey, being younger, should be the birth mother. Th couple asked Lawrence if he would donate sperm – and he replied, “I’d be honoured”.
“Lawrence was the first one there [with us] and he picked him up and it was just very emotional,” she told The Times of her son’s birth.
“I said to him ‘Thank you’, and he said ‘It’s my pleasure’, and we just held each other. And now, when I look at Horatio, he is a complete mix of [Ms Rickey] and me.”
“Of course, now I know that it could only ever have been Lawrence who was Horatio’s father,” she said.
Speaking about why she wants to discuss the topic more openly, she explained: “I’m a gay woman and I have some sort of social responsibility to people who still feel they haven’t a voice.
“I just happen to live with another woman and she had a child who happens to be from my brother,” she told Good Housekeeping magazine.
“The more I am able to normalise that the better the world is going to be.”
After she shared the story, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins hailed the family as “beautiful”.
Mr Dawkins tweeted: “Beautiful. Sperm donor father is the brother of the lesbian partner of the mother. I can see why he felt ‘honoured’.”
Portas – who has two children with her ex-husband Graham – entered into a civil partnership with Ms Rickey in 2010 and were among the first couples to convert their civil partnership to a marriage.
A number of celebrities have also showed off their kids’ choice of dress-up
Gay icon Adele previously let her young son dress as Anna from Frozen on a trip to Disneyland.
Though the singer keeps her son out the spotlight, she has been very vocal about her inclusive approach to parenting, explaining: “I can’t wait to know who his best friends are going to be, who his girlfriend or his boyfriend is going to be… whatever my kid wants to do or be I will always support him no matter what”.
Ray Donovan star Liev Schreiber also stuck up for his son, taking him to Comic-Con dressed as Batman villain Harley Quinn.
And Will Smith has spoken out to defend his genderfluid son Jaden after online trolling.
A 9-year-old previously received horrific abuse online for dressing as Disney villain Cruella De Vil.
9-year-old Liam, who has a passion for costuming and dressing up, chose to dress up as the 101 Dalmatians villain for Halloween.
Liam’s dad Will shared his son’s costume on Facebook – only to get negative messages from “concerned” friends.
THE OUTFIT DID NOT GO DOWN WELL WITH HIS DAD’S FRIENDS
One friend wrote: “I must say completely inappropriate, and I can’t believe a parent would ever do that to their child! Sorry if I offend you or your friends but I think it’s wrong!!!”
Will replied: “We deal with this type of small minded person on a daily basis. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I will always support and encourage my kids creativity happily and without apology.”
The father added that his son doesn’t identify as transgender or gay, and just likes dressing up.
PROUD DAD
He told the website: “It seems like he is more interested in the creative process and the eccentricity of the outfit rather than the dressing or impersonating a female, although if that was what he wanted to do I would still support him.
“It’s very typical for people to assume that because he has two dads, that we somehow guided him in this direction. That is simply not the case.
“We have had to discuss the fact that he may be met with adverse reactions when wearing this type of outfit to school on Halloween and even out on the evening trick-or-treating.
“Fortunately, he has a great school and very good friends that didn’t give him a hard time.
“I am not asking for applause or acceptance from other parents. I fully understand many probably have an issue with this, but I am perplexed by other parents criticism.”
