A mother has broken the parenting taboo by bravely admitting she has a favorite child.
Vogue Williams is speaking to parents and their adult children to discuss topics they’ve rarely, if ever, talked about in The Mail’s new podcast. The apple and the tree.
These are deep, intimate and revealing conversations that traverse love, pain, shame, sexuality, religion, addiction, identity and more, recorded in the guests’ own homes, and Vogue analyzes what is revealed. has shared at the end of each episode.
In the seventh episode, Vogue travels to Mitcham, south London, to meet Ashley and her mother Denise.
Denise, 60, is well known in her community even during difficult times in her life and when she had problems with her health. When she was fifty years old, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent a mastectomy, something that Ashley said to this day she finds difficult to cope with.
Denise, from south London, admits Ashley is her favorite daughter and her other children know it
TV presenter Vogue Williams speaks to mums, dads and their adult children to discuss topics they’ve rarely, if ever, talked about in The Mail’s new podcast, The Apple & The Tree.
Denise has been cancer-free for eight years, fundraising to find a cure for the disease and says she got a “survivor” tattoo on her chest.
Denise and Ashley’s father also split when he was very young and they talk about why he is considered their ‘golden child’, despite being in his thirties, on the podcast.
Vogue said: “I love that you so openly choose your favorite child, I always say parents have a favorite child.” Is Ashley your favorite?
Then Denise looked at her son and said, ‘He is. If I ask Ashley to do something, of my four children, he is the first to do it.
“Ashley is a comedian, he has always made me laugh, (even) if I am sad or sick.”
Vogue then dug a little deeper and asked Denise how her other children would feel knowing she has a favorite.
‘The girls are not very happy about this. My oldest son 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 “up their game,” to which Ashley chimed in and responded, “Yes, exactly.”
“My brother used to be my favorite and now I’m the leader,” the host added.
The couple also talks about how Denise and Ashley’s father split up when he was very young.
In the episode, the trio also talk about the absence of Ashley’s father and how that made him feel insecure and uneasy.
When Vogue asked him if he had ever talked about these feelings with his mother, he said, “I don’t think I ever talked about it with her until I was older, because it’s not like I didn’t feel safe at all because my older brother was home.” .
‘He made me feel safe. But there was a time when he left home and then I became the ‘man of the house’.
‘I didn’t let them know that I ever felt unsafe because I wanted them to feel safe. It was only when the fear disappeared that I said, “Do you know I was afraid?”
Listen to our podcast The Apple & The Tree, hosted by Vogue Williams on Spotify either Apple Podcasts. New episodes released every Friday.