REBECCA COX | SINGLEMOTHEREDIT

Launching TOMORROW! Since I started a Substack (v original) I’ve been flakey at putting out posts – as predicted – and hesitant at committing to a theme. In the last 10 years I’ve veered away from the women’s lifestyle world I started out in at Conde Nast, and spread out across luxury lifestyle (at the brilliant Country & Town House) and first person (for anyone who would let me indulge myself). I quite frequently have pinch-me moments that I have managed to carve a career that includes reviewing luxury hotels and restaurants and ranting about love and life and getting paid for both. (Please note that I love luxury travel and ranting in completely equal amounts.) I have also loved finding a new published voice over the last decade as a single mum and member of the queer community, and the stories (and book) I’ve contributed in these areas are my proudest achievements. But I’ve been reluctant to pigeon-hole myself into either of these niches (effed up slightly with my @singlemotheredit Insta-handle here), though I know I’ll never stop seeking opportunities to platform the voices of single parents and LGBTQ+ folk, and table issues that I feel need attention.  WITH THIS IN MIND, after all this rambling I am excited to announce that I am launching a new series on my SubStack. I’m not saying it will last forever, or that I can commit to anything long-term (flakey bisexual that I am) but I’m really excited to have some beautiful contributions lined up to share with you already. My COMING OUT series will share the stories of queer women, how they came out, what they’ve learnt from dating women, what they wish they’d known, what they hope for in the future. I’m launching the series with my own coming out story, in case I’ve never bored you with it before. Sign up to my Substack today and please get in touch if you’re a queer woman who would like to share your story with me.  This was inspired by a recent Stylist commission (see previous post) and I’m so grateful to publications like theirs for prioritising diversity in their storytelling.

Thank you to @skynews for covering the economic impact of price hikes on the huge number of single parent families in the UK. For those affected, there is help and advice available from Citizens Advice, who flagged the impact on single parents, on how to cut bills and switch tariffs where possible to make savings. However, many have made every possible cut and switch already and the money still isn't stretching far enough. If this is you, please know you're not alone and you're not doing anything wrong. Seek connection and support with those in the same boat as you on the @frolo_app and make sure you're utilising support systems (however flawed) such as UC, child benefit, CMS and single person discounts where available to you. Mine and @zochild_ 's book @howtobeahappysingleparent has a chapter on money management, with budgeting advice and practical ways to make money go further or increase your income. Finally, follow the brilliant work of @singleparentrights who know the importance of speaking up for those of us raising children alone. Your family isn't broken, it's the economy.

I will never tire of writing about motherhood, even if motherhood itself is tiring me to the brink of burnout. An absolute joy to write this one, thank you @britishvogue @hayleymaitland for the commission and @charlottefoxweberpsychotherapy for your wisdom. “I will never, ever put my dreams on hold to support a man’s again.” I made this vow to myself upon divorcing, and meant it. But when it comes to breaking vows, I’m a serial offender and seven years later, I find myself doing it again – only this time the “man” in question is eight, and shares half my DNA. Full article #linkinbio & stories.

New Substack instalment is in inboxes and online if you'd like to sign up. Here's a little slice of the intro: 'There’s a house I pass on the school run with a felt-tip A3 poster in the upstairs window. ‘Dare to dream! Vote Green!’ it reads. There are quite a lot of Green Party posters and placards in the houses near me. Not as many as in my social media feed though, where there are enough pro-green posts to slightly alter the meaning of the word ‘greenwashing’ in my brain for good. Enough to think that maybe, just maybe, the UK isn’t headed for a slow roll-out of a right-wing hellscape under Trump’s ratty little doppelganger Farage.' Then I go on to detail an encounter with a rather unpleasant man, before sharing part 2 of my COMING OUT series with a very wonderful and clever queer woman, that you'll just have to subscribe to read in full. See ya.

I'm in Venice to write a piece for @countryandtownhouse about the restoration and conservation efforts in the city and how they're being supported by the city's hotels. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to pop into the Gallerie Accademia to see some Renaissance masterpieces. Pleasantly surprised to see the vibes back then match mine 🫶🏼

I get to stay in a lot of amazing hotels for work, but this new @sofitellondon Suite 70 is really something special. An ode to the 70s, the all orange everything is an instant mood boost. Wish I could have stayed there forever. Link to the review in stories in case ya fancy finding out more. PS. The piece to camera is a new @countryandtownhouse format that I'm not 100% confident filming / sharing / existing yet but here we go 🥲

Want to revisit 70s London? At Sofitel London St James, Suite 70 is one of Pierre-Yves Rochon’s two brand new flagship suite designs, where 1970s London glamour meets Parisian pizzazz. Rebecca Cox was just the second guest to stay in the statement suite: ‘Dopamine decor at its finest, Suite 70 at Sofitel St James is a design masterpiece, a time-machine, an instant mood-boost; it’s an absolute one-of-a-kind’. Read the full review online now, and sign up to our daily STAYING IN / GOING OUT newsletter for London’s hottest openings, the best new books, TV and more, straight to your inbox.

God, I wish I was a lesbian! A bit of an weird response to someone telling you they're queer but better than an attack I guess 🤷🏼‍♀️. I usually take it as a sign of awkward allyship and move on, but actually, some people really WOULD love to date women, and just don't know where, or how, to start. Eternally grateful that I had queer friends and a supportive network to make my coming out so easy, but not everyone is so lucky, as I learnt when writing this piece for @stylistmagazine . I LOVED hearing the stories of the women who shared their experiences and words of advice with me for this feature and for the next generation of WLW. I hope they help someone to find the courage to be 100% their authentic self so that maybe one day instead of replying 'God, I wish I was a lesbian!' they might say: 'I think I might be queer, too.' In the queer community, there's always space for one more. Thanks Emily, Molly, Nic, Sarah, @breakupmonologues and @lazonick for your generosity 🙏🏼 More of this to come. Read the feature at the link in bio. Thanks for the commission @hannahkeegan 🩷

Feeling SO lucky after a trip to my forever favourite Paris with the incredible @shangrilaparis & @eurostar (only way to travel). Trop de champagne, beaucoup de caviar, amazing group and lots of laughing. My cup is full. Love my job @countryandtownhouse & now I'm back with my baby boy and a Pokémon binder.

I wrote a book (with my beloved friend @zochild_ ) called How To Be A Happy Single Parent. I truly believe it's totally possible to have a glorious, fulfilled, beautiful life as a single parent, and our book was (intended as) a message of hope and support to all those raising children alone. But. You cannot hope your way out of poverty. You cannot support yourself and your children when the numbers just don't add up, no matter how hard you try. Almost a quarter of families in the UK are headed by a single parent and they deserve to be recognised by our law makers when reform is being made to childcare and welfare systems. This single parent day as well as celebrating all the wonderful and brilliant single parents in my life who are thriving, I want to acknowledge the ones who are struggling. You are not and have never been the problem. Thank you to @singleparentrights @frolo_app @gingerbreadcharity and everyone else out there advocating for single parents. To any single parent reading this, keep your head up.

Genuinely interested in how everyone else feels about Louis Theroux's Inside The Manosphere. I finished it just feeling deflated; OK, now what? I enjoyed @ella_alexander1 's more uplifting response and resonated with @lalalaletmeexplain 's point on the powerlessness of mums to shape our future men (both referenced in my substack), but was I wrong to hope from more from this feature-length documentary? This is a bit of a rushed lunch break rant but these thoughts have been going round and round since I watched it last night. Will we act? Or will the bar just get lower and lower?

It's World Book Day today and OH how I love books. Nothing can transport you like a book. Nothing can TRANSFORM you like a book. My baby boy was 4 when @zochild_ and I embarked on this project. She had already cooked up her life-changing @frolo_app providing a lifeline for lost single parents, and while she was creating real-life friendships for the 1 in 4 parents heading their families alone, we wanted to guide people via a book: a friend who's been there, who knows what you're going through. This book was never written to be a best seller. It's for the 1 in 4 families, in all their beautiful forms, whose family doesn't fit the usual mould. We wrote it to guide them along the way, but we were guiding ourselves too. We got so much help. We spoke to some of the most inspirational single parents out, and their words are in the pages too. It takes a village, after all, and there's none more inspiring than the single parent village. Thank you to everyone who has bought and read our little book over the last few years, the ones who have listened to the audiobook, bought it for a friend. Thank you especially to everyone who has messaged kind words about the support and comfort you've gleaned from it. We wrote this book for us, for you and for every single parent past and present who knows what it's like to carry the burden of parenthood alone, for any stretch of time. 🩵