Emma Willis Defends Nine-Year-Old Son Ace's Individual Dress Sense

Emma Willis has spoken out about "wanting to scream" at cruel trolls who have criticised her son's dress sense.

The presenter, 44, has had to defend nine-year-old Ace from negative comments after she posted a picture of him rocking long blonde hair and a pink crop top on Instagram in October.

While the vast majority of fans praised Ace and Emma for "breaking gender stereotypes", with Emma also speaking about being "overwhelmed" by the support, she has also spoken about feeling protective over her son.

Instagram - emmawillis)

"Say what you want about me, I'm big enough to take it on the chin," she told Fabulous magazine. "But when you get comments like that regarding your children, it just makes the Hulk want to come out and scream at the world.

"I'm so protective of my kids and this was just a young boy expressing himself the way he wants to. I thought: 'Did you not watch '80s dance movies? All the boys wore crop tops and it was cool!'

"He is very individual, he dresses the way he wants and he's really happy doing that. Why would I try to suppress that?"

Emma, who also shares Isabelle, 11, and four-year-old Trixie Grace with husband Matt Willis, continued that the stack of negative responses she received about Ace was "an eye-opener", as she never had any problem with the way her son dresses.

PA Images)

"So it did massively make me start thinking about stereotyping and how bonkers it is that a boy, just because he has long hair and is wearing pink, is mistaken for a girl," she said.

The Circle presenter Emma has always been vocal about allowing her three children to express themselves in their own way.

In another Instagram post, she shared her children's individual looks for Children's Mental Health week.

Instagram - emmawillis)

She explained in the caption: "Raised in exactly the same way, yet all completely unique. My teenager before her time, my boss lady baby and my rainbow boy.

"This week I've watched them discuss and explore their own mental health with their teachers and classmates and I couldn't be prouder.

"I don't remember experiencing anything like this when I was at school but it's so obviously necessary for our kids, so their little minds can start to understand their thoughts, feeling, and emotions and that they feel comfortable expressing them."

Topics: Children, Mum, Kids, Emma Willis, Celebrity News, Motherhood, Mother

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

@0xKimberley