Nicole Appleton says Oasis singer Liam Gallagher was a “hands on” dad to their son Gene when he was a baby.
Nicole Appleton and Liam Gallagher at UK Premiere of Shine A Light in 2008
The former All Saints member and Liam got together in 2000 and married in 2008 but split in 2013 after the rock icon cheated on her and fathered a daughter, Gemma, with American journalist Liza Ghorbani. Their divorce was finalised in April 2014.
Nicole, 51, has given an insight into what life was like for the two music stars when they were both at the top of the charts and touring when they had Gene in July 2021, and, despite his wild rock ‘n’ roll reputation, the Never Ever hitmaker has revealed that Liam did all the daddy duties required for a newborn.
Appearing on Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Spinning Plates podcast, Nicole said: “When I had Gene I was 24. I feel like him and I grew up together. I never grew up with the word nanny in my life, I didn’t have any friends with a nanny.
“Gene basically came to work with me all the time when he was little. When Nat and I did our Appleton album he was one. We’ve got footage of him in the studio with me feeding him. His dad was really hands on as well.”
Nicole also praised Liam’s mother Peggy Gallagher for always being on hand when it came to babysitting Gene, now 24, for her and Liam, 53, with Gene, as well as her sister and All Saints bandmate Natalie Appleton.
Although looking back, Nicole can’t believe that she and Liam would party so late into the night when they had to deal with a baby the next day.
She said: “I had the most amazing mother-in-law on my ex’s side, and my parents and sisters so we had babysitters. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, Gene is going to be waking up and we’re just getting home.’ It was awful, it was those days.
“I could never do that now, I still can’t believe I did! It wasn’t all the time but there’d be those times, and I think how did I do that? How did we get through it?”
Nicole is now married to Meta executive Stephen Harris and the couple have six-year-old daughter Skipper.
The Pure Shores singer admits motherhood in middle-age feels a lot different to when she had Gene – who now fronts his own band Villanelle – because she was still growing up herself.
She said: “I feel like Gene grew up with me, because I was still a kid myself deep down inside. I was learning the ropes in the music industry and all that kind of stuff and making mistakes, but he was on that ride the whole way with me.
“With Skipper it’s a whole different story, she was born during COVID so we had to do exactly what I did before which kind of made it quite nice. There was nothing anyone could do, we were in this bubble together.
“I’m a different mum to her, I haven’t changed as a person but I’m not as energetic. I feel like a mum with Skipper, I feel like Gene’s sister. It’s just really funny the dynamics, having them so far apart I feel like it is a real difference having them very young and having Skipper when I was 44.”
