The actress shared her point of view (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh has opened up on raising a transgender child, blasting anti-trans trolls as she highlighted the prevalence of self-harm and death among the community.
The actress, who plays Lady Danbury in Bridgerton and is known for her stage roles in various Shakespeare productions, shares three children with her lecturer husband Howard Cunnell.
They are parents to daughters Jess and Daisy and son Liam, who revealed in his early teens that he had been born in the wrong body.
Andoh, who will turn 60 in January, lives a private life with her family, but made passionate comments about her experience as the mother of a transgender son.
In a new interview she lamented that society was allowing trans people to feel ‘so reviled and un-allowable’, as she said she wanted all of her kids to ‘thrive’, regardless of their gender.
‘My feeling is hold your peace until you know of what you speak. Self-harm and death among young trans people are disproportionately high,’ she explained.
Andoh is a mum of three, and keeps her family live private (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
With Simone Ashley, Shelley Conn and Charithra Chandran in Bridgerton season 2 (Picture: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX)
‘Why on earth are we creating a society that means people feel so reviled and un-allowable that they would rather end their lives? For me, your gig as a parent is to raise your child up, keep them from falling under a bus and teach them to do unto others.
She added to Red magazine: ‘I’m a mother and I want all my children to thrive; it’s a no-brainer.’
Andoh also revealed she cleaned toilets and modelled for life drawing classes after moving to Brixton aged 21 from Bristol to start of her career.
Other black actresses then offered their ‘generous’ help by telling her about where to go for auditions, and the star said she has also tried to ‘open the door wider for others’ rather than ‘pulling up the ladder’ since her success.
The actress has also spilled on how she found her success in the industry (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Teasing what’s on the horizon for Bridgerton season three, which is currently in production, the TV star, who appeared on Casualty as staff nurse Colette between 2000 and 2003, promised ‘squeaky bed springs going on and lots of twists and turns’.
She also said that, as everything gets ‘ramped up’ each series, the ‘level of steroidal joy will be higher’.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk at the Pride of Britain Awards, Andoh previously said: ‘It’s season three so there will be lots of things you’re familiar with.
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‘There will be the next Bridgerton child, in this case Colin, and we’ll find out what his romantic outworkings are, there’ll be a bit of How’s Your Father, no doubt, there’ll be some lovely frocks, there’ll be some lovely locations.
‘I will have some trouble that comes at me in surprising ways, and it’ll be more of the same, but with surprises. It’s got extra glam to it this season, I would say.’
The full interview with Adjoah Andoh is available in the January issue of Red, now on sale. Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix now.
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‘I’m a mother and I want all my children to thrive; it’s a no-brainer.’
