Bella Mackie takes a swipe at Laurence Fox as she says she feels ‘glad for Billie Piper’

Greg James’ wife Bella Mackie took a swipe at Billie Piper’s ex-husband Laurence Fox in a tweet on Sunday.

Bella praised 38-year-old Billie’s ‘happy new life’ after splitting from the actor, 42 – who has been embroiled in multiple controversies this year – in 2016. 

The journalist, 35, wrote: ‘Every day I feel glad for Billie Piper and her happy new life away from *all that.’

Laurence and Billie split in 2016 after nine years of marriage. They share two sons, Winston, 11, and Eugene, eight.

Billie is now in a long-term relationship with musician Johnny Lloyd who she began dating in 2016.

The couple are parents to daughter Tallulah, who was born in January 2019. 

Laurence has been swept up into multiple controversies in 2020.   

The actor is embroiled in a heated exchange with a number of Twitter users including Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp and deputy chair of Stonewall, Simon Blake, whom he called ‘paedophiles’ after they claimed he was ‘racist’.

This comes after Fox accused Sainsbury’s of ‘promoting racial segregation and discrimination’ and promised to boycott the supermarket chain after it promoted Black History Month.

As he faced a backlash for his views, he clapped back at people ‘falsely accusing him of racism’ by retaliating with unsubstantiated slurs calling them ‘paedophiles’.  

He has since removed the posts, writing: ‘I have deleted the tweets posted yesterday, in response to being repeatedly, continuously and falsely smeared as a racist.’  

At the weekend Fox found himself in a fiery debate with former Coronation Street actress Nicola Thorp after she said Fox was ‘unequivocally, publicly and undeniably a racist’.

He hit back: ‘Any company giving future employment to Nicola Thorpe or providing her with a platform does so with the complete knowledge that she is unequivocally, publicly and undeniably a paedophile.[sic]’ 

Fox said last night: ‘Language is powerful. To accuse someone of racism without any evidence whatsoever to back up that accusation is a deep slander. 

‘It carries the same stigma and reputation destroying harm as accusing someone of paedophilia. Here endeth the lesson.’ 

The row comes after the actor, who recently announced he was launching his own political party to ‘reclaim British values’, denounced the supermarket on Twitter.   

He said: ‘Dear Sainsbury’s

‘I won’t be shopping in your supermarket ever again whilst you promote racial segregation and discrimination. I sincerely hope others join me. RT’  

It came after Sainsbury’s announced they would be marking Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements of the black community, recognising the central role black people have played in history. 

The supermarket says it’s aim is to be ‘the most inclusive retailer’ where ‘every single one of our colleagues feels safe and supported at work’. 

His response sparked debate on Twitter with some backing his views while others said Sainsbury’s tweet had had the desired effect.   

He announced last month that he was launching a new political party called the Reclaim Party in a bid to ‘reclaim British values’.

The actor has received substantial sums from former Tory donors and hopes to stand dozens of candidates across the UK.      

Fox was involved in a heated debate with the academic and ethnicity lecturer Rachel Boyle after she called him ‘a white privileged male’ on BBC’s Question Time.

He then accused Ms Boyle, an academic at Edge Hill University on Merseyside, of ‘being racist’ after she called him ‘a white privileged male’ for denying the Duchess of Sussex was hounded from Britain for being mixed-race.

As the row continued the following day he quoted Martin Luther King’s 1963 ‘I have a dream’ speech about living in a nation where children ‘will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character’.

He said: ‘This is the position I took last night and I live by in life. If you can improve on it, I’m all ears. Or you can keep screeching ”Racist!” at me and I can carry on having a jolly good giggle at your expense. The tide is turning’. 

The next day he revealed he does not date women under the age of 35 because they are ‘too woke’ and many of them are ‘absolutely bonkers’ during an interview with the Delingpod podcast.

During the podcast, Fox said that he called off a relationship with a former partner because she praised a Gillette advert which highlighted ‘toxic masculinity.’ 

Less than a week later, Fox made an apology  for his comments about the inclusion of a Sikh soldier in the First World War film 1917 by Sir Sam Mendes.

The actor had initially referred to ‘the oddness in the casting’ of a Sikh soldier and was met by widespread criticism by historians who confirmed that Sikhs had served in the British Army.

Fox later tweeted: ‘Fellow humans who are Sikhs, I am as moved by the sacrifices your relatives made as I am by the loss of all those who die in war, whatever creed or colour.

‘Please accept my apology for being clumsy in the way I expressed myself.’ 

In June, in a piece for the Spectator, Fox questioned if Meghan Markle stepped down as a working royal because she did not get the ‘limelight’

In September 2020, Fox said that he had been ‘cancelled’ by fellow actor Rebecca Front because she had blocked him on Twitter over his use of the ‘All Lives Matter’ counter-slogan in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Fox later apologised for revealing this through tweeting a private text conversation between the pair, in which Front had explained her reasons for blocking him.