Tamzin Outhwaite has opened up about her family’s journey to acceptance after her eldest child Flo came out as transgender.
The EastEnders actress, 55, is mother to Florence, 17, and Marnie, 12, with her ex-husband Tom Ellis who she split from in 2014.
Tamzin never spoke about Flo’s identity until July last year, where she revealed he first came out as trans and identified as a boy when he was ‘about 10 or 11’.
‘It’s been a long journey, a very long journey, but we’re in a great place now,’ she said. ‘I’m just happy that he’s happy, and that’s how I feel at the moment. He’s thriving, absolutely thriving.’
‘I’m not allowed to talk about him [Flo]. I was only allowed to talk about him on Rob [Beckett] and Josh [Widdicombe]’s podcast, Parenting Hell, because it’s his favourite podcast.
‘So I was allowed to talk about him with both of those two, but I’m not allowed to talk about him anywhere else, and I respect that decision,’ she told The Mirror.
Tamzin Outhwaite, 55, has opened up about her family’s journey to acceptance after her eldest child Flo, 17, came out as transgender (pictured in July 2025 together)
Tamzin never spoken about Flo’s identity until July last year, where she revealed he first came out as trans and identified as a boy when he was ‘about 10 or 11’
In an appearance on the Parenting Hell podcast last year, Tamzin said: ‘I’ve got two kids. I did have two daughters and now I have a son and a daughter. That’s quite easy for me to say now, but it wasn’t maybe six or seven years ago.’
‘The maddest thing is I suppose that it’s not the most interesting thing about him,’ she said. ‘He’s an incredibly funny, intelligent boy, and I’m watching him grow into a wonderful human who’s very talented.
‘To see him thriving is just nothing but relief and joy for me really because there were some dark times.’
Tamzin recalled the period when Flo first came out as trans, which she remembers as a ‘very distressing time’.
‘Until you’re going through it yourself with your child, it’s difficult to judge the situation,’ she said.
‘Initially, I would say, don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t say don’t be ridiculous but my mind went, “that’s ludicrous”.
‘Working back from that with talking, family therapy, therapy on Flo’s side as well, talking with family and realising you’re not alone.
‘I think if you push back on a kid, they’ll want to do the opposite of what their parent says. I didn’t say “you can’t be that”, but it was a distressing time. We worked together as a family and with outside help.’
Rob Beckett, who co-hosts the podcast with Josh Widdicombe, said: ‘You can’t do everything to make them happy. It’s in them and there’s other things at play. Having to let things take their course…’
The actress is mother to Florence, 17, and Marnie, 12, with her ex-husband Tom Ellis who she split from in 2014
Tamzin said: ‘I’ve got two kids. I did have two daughters and now I have a son and a daughter. That’s quite easy for me to say now, but it wasn’t maybe six or seven years ago’
Tamzin shares her two children with her ex-husband Tom Ellis (pictured together in 2012)
‘Yeah,’ Tamzin responded. ‘Time and action, but also being sensitive and, you know…. The whole LGBT community get a bit of a hard rap at the moment – it’s quite tough, I think. It is a hot topic.’
Josh said: ‘It’s almost like you’ve been in sync with that topic becoming a public debate,’ referring to the prominent discussion of trans issues in the media.
‘Kind of, yeah. Every situation is completely different, every child is different,’ Tamzin said. ‘It really is less than one per cent of the population.
‘There’s this big up in arms thing. It’s not that common, just because…. But I’m just so happy for him.
‘I’m happy that we’re in a place and he’s in a place that he is just…. I mean, he’s an incredible actor. He’s desperate to be a comedy writer. I was only allowed to talk about it on this podcast.’
Tamzin told how her ex-boyfriend of six years, Tom Child, is still her ‘best mate’ and he is always in and out of the house.
‘[He] has been around for the whole of like Flo’s transitioning period, for the whole of Marnie becoming a girl that was discovering all sorts of stuff and boys, and so he is still a member of the family. We’ve been not together for over a year.
‘The kids often say to him “When you meet someone, or even if you have, how are you going to explain this situation to your girlfriends?”‘
