Nicola McLean’s son mistaken for girl as she defends his long hair and refuses to make him conform

Nicola McLean has defended her son’s long hair, refusing to make him conform to gender stereotypes.

The former I’m A Celebrity star’s son Striker has gorgeous waist-length locks, which sometimes result in people thinking he’s a girl.

But according to Nicola, he just doesn’t care – and good on him!

‘“Oh, she’s lovely,” people comment. But I genuinely don’t care — and neither does Striker,’ she wrote for The Sun’s Fabulous magazine.

‘Having long hair doesn’t make Striker any less of a boy. There’s nothing feminine about him, not that it would matter if there was.

‘That said, I constantly have to argue that Striker’s a boy, because people still think boys should have short hair and girls have long hair.’

The 39-year-old praised her son’s teacher, who printed off pictures of footballers with long hair to show to the class, and hit back at the headmistress when she said Striker needed to cut his hair.

She went on to mention Emma Willis and her son Ace, adding: ‘I love that Emma’s son isn’t following a gender stereotype and although I’m not a woke parent, if Striker wasn’t identifying as a boy, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.’

Nicola shares two sons – Rocky and Striker – with her husband Tom Williams, who she tied the knot with in 2009.

She’s previously been open about her life as a mum, opening up a discussion about letting youngsters drink, and getting in a debate with Eamonn Holmes about being the only person she lets discipline her children.

Meanwhile, presenter Emma recently defended her son Ace’s unique dress sense.

‘Say what you want about me, I’m big enough to take it on the chin. But when you get comments like that regarding your children, it just makes the Hulk want to come out and scream at the world,’ Emma told The Sun’s Fabulous magazine. 

She continued: ‘I’m so protective of my kids and this was just a young boy expressing himself the way he wants to. I thought: ‘Did you not watch ’80s dance movies? All the boys wore crop tops and it was cool! 

‘He is very individual, he dresses the way he wants and he’s really happy doing that. Why would I try to suppress that?’ 

Tell ’em, Emma!

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