Paloma Faith opens up on losing toddler and near-death chaos in candid parenting admission

Paloma Faith has opened about the chaotic parenting mishaps she's faced along the way while raising her two children, aged seven and three. The 42-year-old, who co-parents with her ex-husband Leyman Lahcine, has candidly revealed that there had been a time where she lost her youngest child on tour, and also claimed they had "nearly died" at another point.

Paloma made the admission as she continues to promote her no holds barred novel MILF: Motherhood, Identity, Love and F*****y, which focuses on the truths of being a woman and mother in today's society. Opening up about one of her realities of parenthood in conversation with Fearne Cotton, Paloma shared: "Quite often, I'm with a seven and a three-year-old, I've had days where I've lost one or they nearly died and it's commonplace, and your nervous system is supposed to recover.

"One just ran in front of a car today and there was a big crowd. The other day I was on tour and the three-year-old thought it would be funny to hide, without announcing that we're playing hide and seek. I had all these people standing in front of the entrances and exits in the hotel and I was screaming, like a blood-curdling scream.

"People thought once I found her that I had overreacted, like 'Oh this woman is so dramatic', but my life was flashing before my eyes and I didn't really care what people thought about my blood-curdling scream."

While dealing with that matter, Paloma said she was being bombarded with messages about her Glastonbury outfit, adding: "You're just like, 'Can I just have five minutes, as I've literally just seen my life crumbling down?' And then the baby's in my arm."

During the podcast, the singer went on to clarify that despite her book being called 'Milf', she hates the initial term of what it means.

She told Fearne: "I kept being called a milf and I didn't know whether to appreciate it or tell people to F off.

"It feels a bit like a pat on the back, like the runner-up prize, like 'Well done, you're still attractive'.

"It's like actually I'm still a sexual being and I'm still me and I didn't, on giving birth, lose my entire identity and become an 1950s projective version apron-wearing woman. We're still us."

Paloma is believed to be single following her split from Leyman, which she appeared to confirm in 2023.

The singer said the breakdown of her marriage was "the worst thing" that had ever happened to her, but that they were now in a good place as friends.

Not one to shy away from a candid truth, the mother-of-two has previously revealed that having children is what led to the pair's break-up.

She told The Independent: “You either grow together, adapting to one another like expandable foam and filling the gaps where it’s empty – or one person grows and the other stays the same.

"And I think for me, becoming a mother was such a massively life-changing experience that for the first time in my life, I needed more than nothing – and the expandable foam just wasn’t there.”

She went on to add: “Our relationship ended because we have those children. And I think that was worth it.”

Paloma has kept the reason behind their split private for the sake of their kids, whom she keeps away from the spotlight.

She previously told The Mirror: "It's a different feeling having kids and knowing they’ll read about it in ten years. I have to be respectful of that because when they’re older they might say, ‘F*** you’.”

Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.