Among the most memorable moments from the last series of Strictly Come Dancing was the Charleston performed by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and her professional partner Brendan Cole. It was only week two but Sophie notched up four nines from the judges who declared her the very incarnation of the 1920s’ flapper.
Though gratified by the praise, Sophie always seemed a touch less engaged with the Strictly “journey” than other celebrities. She shunned the fake tan, she didn’t gush like an oil well about how it had changed her life and she did not get weepy.
“No, I didn’t cry once,” she says. “I’m quite proud of that.” So perhaps there was a part of her that felt that Strictly was just a tiny bit too square for a singer known for her cool and groovy pop anthems such as Murder On The Dancefloor? Absolutely not, she protests.
“While it’s going on it consumes you. I was constantly thinking about shaping and footwork. I love the charm and innocence of Strictly. On the very first day of training I was watching Deborah Meaden [from Dragons’ Den] practise and I realised I had a smile on my face. Seeing how excited my girlfriends were at the prospect was the reason I said yes to Strictly. Though I had to do things I’d never attempted before I wanted to still look like me doing them. I didn’t want to look back in years to come and think ‘Who on earth was that?’ There’s no doubt people engage with you in a different way. It certainly turns London into a more affectionate place.”
Sophie also had the loyalest supporters in the form of her mum, the former Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, and husband Richard Jones, cheering, applauding and in Janet’s case, blubbing her eyes out.
“Some people don’t like having anyone they know in the audience when they’re performing but I’m the opposite,” says Sophie. “I was determined to get everyone involved. Richard, the kids, my girlfriends. Brendan met them all. The week I did the foxtrot my 86-year-old granny was in the audience. I didn’t care what the judges said I just wanted my granny to have a good time. She said she felt she was up there dancing with me.”
I meet Sophie in the Disney Store in London’s Oxford Street where she is helping to launch Safer Internet Day, which aims to educate youngsters and their parents in how to avoid the dangers lurking online. According to the latest research, one in four children aged between six and 12 admits having shared personal information online with strangers.
Behind the public areas, the shop is a warren and Sophie emerges unexpectedly from a cubicle-sized room, all smiles and glossy chestnut hair. She is wearing a checked dirndl-style dress over a blouse. Coupled with her heart-shaped face and porcelain skin, the effect is at once demure and alluring. Now, I’m female and I’m straight but I find myself totally mesmerised. Sophie Ellis-Bextor is simply one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.
She is 34 now and the mother of three boys. Sonny is nine, Kit was five last Friday and Ray will be two in April. They are of the generation dubbed digital natives, who have never known a world without high-tech gadgets and social media.
“To them iPads are not luxury items, they’re just what you have,” says Sophie. “The internet is a wonderful thing and you want kids to feel confident with it but you want them to have some awareness of the other side and I need to know how to set up parental controls. It is so easy to stumble across something inappropriate.”
The boys are allowed only to use the internet at weekends for short periods and will not be getting a mobile phone before they are at secondary school. When meeting primary schoolchildren later she looks shocked when seven out of 15 say they have a mobile phone. Her own parents seem to have been easy-going, however. Though Janet and Sophie’s father, the producer and director Robin Bextor, divorced when she was four, both went on to have happy and enduring second marriages. “I don’t really remember them being together but I experienced a good family life twice over.” She has five half-siblings but gets upset by the “half” description.
After putting her through private school (Sophie went to Godolphin and Latymer School) they were unfazed when Sophie announced that instead of going to university she was going on tour as vocalist with the band theaudience. Five years later they split and Sophie went solo. Her first single Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) kept Victoria Beckham’s first solo effort out of the No1 spot. Then came another surprise. Six weeks after she had started going out with Richard Jones, bass player with The Feeling, Sophie discovered she was pregnant.
It helped that we’d known each other for a year before we got together but it was strange to meet his parents sporting a baby bump
She recalls: “Richard didn’t run away screaming. It helped that we’d known each other for a year before we got together but it was strange to meet his parents sporting a baby bump. We kept going on dates and had a couple of holidays but when Sonny was born prematurely at seven months, Richard and I had still been together less than nine months. Still, things cemented pretty quickly and somehow we still find it funny now.”
They married a year later in Italy and now live in Chiswick, west London, in a house filled with the curios Sophie can’t stop buying on eBay. They still have date nights and sometimes do joint DJ sessions together as Mr & Mrs Jones. Tour schedules are arranged so that she is not gone for longer than 10 consecutive days, which can be tricky when you have a huge fan base in Eastern Europe. She pays homage to their musical tradition in her album Wanderlust, which came out soon after Strictly ended.
“People said I was so clever with the timing but it wasn’t planned at all. I recorded the album months ago before I had committed to Strictly and I had no idea how long I would last.”
She values the discipline dancing has given her but says it is unlikely to make her a more flamboyant performer. “I wouldn’t want to thrust myself in people’s faces like Lady Gaga. I loved her theatricality initially but it looks exhausting and she looks exhausted. All you can do is find your niche and do what works for you.
“Mind you, Strictly puts everything into perspective. Album launches used to be really scary but now I think, ‘Come on, you’ve done a paso doble on live TV in front of millions.’ Nothing’s going to be scarier than that.”
Sophie is an ambassador for Disney Club Penguin’s It Starts With You campaign. The online safety initiative aims to empower kids to take the lead in spreading positive behaviour online and give parents the tools to better support their children, with a number of free sessions taking place across the UK on February 15.
To help parents tackle their online safety fears Disney Club Penguin has also prepared tools including a series of top tips on how to keep kids safe online and shoppers checklist for parents when they're buying iPads, laptops and internet enabled devices - see clubpenguin.com/safety.
Sophie added: "As a mum of three, I know how hard it can be to feel completely up to speed when it comes to the internet and technology. My children are all different ages, but have all grown up with the web, so its important that I know how to make sure they are safe online, like I do in the real world.
"It's great that Disney Club Penguin is helping parents and kids learn the rules of the online road. The internet is an amazing place for learning and discovery, but the potential threats in online safety to kids are real, so we need to make sure that parents and kids know how to navigate safely in the digital world."