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Matty Healy might be a famous pop star but his mum Denise Welch remembers when he was just a kid and had a funny way of annoying her.
The panel on Loose Women opened up a debate about whether children should ever call their parents by their first names on Thursday’s programme.
Charlene White said she could never do in her family, while Linda Robson shared she feels it’s a term of endearment from her kids.
Denise explained how being called ‘mum’ makes her really happy and loved by her two kids, Matty, 34, and Louis, 22.
However, she recalled how Matty, who is now the lead singer of band The 1975, used to terrorise her by calling her by her first name.
‘When Matty was about three and he obviously thought it was clever, he started calling me Denise,’ the 65-year-old explained.
Denise said Matty used to call her by her first name all the time (Picture: ITV)
Throwback to Matty as a little kid with his mum Denise (Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
She continued: ‘And I said: “Why are you calling me that?” so he obviously saw that it was winding me up – and he used to have a lisp – so he started to do it on purpose.
‘So he’d go, “Can I have some juice, Denise,” like that, and then I’d go, “Off you go to bed,” and he’d go, “I’m not going, Denise.”‘
Denise imitated a pronounced lisp, specifically on her name, suggesting her son may have been emphasising the speech impediment on purpose just to wind her up.
The mum-of-two continued: ‘And it went on for about a year and Tim [Healy] kept saying because you’re getting cross with him about it, he’s just thoroughly enjoying it.
‘He used to shout down the stairs going “Denise”.’
She can see the funny side nowm but at the time the habit used to drive her mad.
Nonetheless, Denise had the last laugh, adding that producers wanted Matty to record it for the show.
Matty Healy is the son of Denise and actor Tim Healy, (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)
The singer is known for bizarre on stage stunts (Picture: Backgrid)
‘The producers asked me if I’d ring him and ask him to put that on audio and I thought I don’t think that’s quite the image he’s looking for at the moment,’ she joked.
Proud mum Denise is sometimes seen at her son’s gigs and even had a cute backstage picture with Taylor Swift when she joined The 1975 for a show.
Taylor was briefly romantically connected to the British star as she embarked on her mammoth stadium tour across the US, but that romance has since been dropped.
Matty was recently called out at Glastonbury by artist Rina Sawayama for comments he made on a podcast that were branded ‘racist, misogynistic, and ignorant’, and also claimed he owns her masters.
The 1975 did not play Glasto this year, but Rina did join Sir Elton John on stage for his unforgettable closing set.
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MORE : Rina Sawayama calls out Matty Healy for ‘microaggressions’ in angry Glastonbury rant
‘He obviously saw that it was winding me up,’ the presenter said.