Cynthia Nixon says parents must listen to what kids 'say about themselves' as she opens up on mothering trans son
Cynthia Nixon has recently opened up about her views on being a parent to a transgender child, the evolution of LGBTQ rights, and why white people have got to “catch up” on the “race problem”. The 54-year-old actor is a mother to 23-year-old transgender son Samuel.
The ‘Sex and the City’ star discussed these topics on the Homo Sapiens podcast this week. Speaking to Alan Cumming and Chris Sweeney on the show, Nixon said: “Before I ever had an inkling my kid might be trans I read a really extensive article... [about] all of these parents of pre-pubescent kids who were really struggling with this. There was one dad who said ‘At a certain point, the decision seemed to me I could have a dead son or a live daughter’ and it’s like after you say that, what more is there to say?
“You can make all the arguments that you want... but the fact is, as a parent, as a human, you should listen to what people tell you about themselves. And if they want to make this really extreme change or move in that direction, people are not going to do this lightly.”
Nixon also spoke about the evolution of LGBTQ rights over the years as she mentioned, “It’s different but it’s the same as when you think about 30/40 years ago and more, the arguments are given to gay people that ‘This is just a phase,’ ‘You’re gonna grow out of this.’”
In June 2018, Nixon had announced that her oldest child from her previous marriage with Danny Mozes was a transgender. She saluted her son Samuel, who was born in November 1996, as the pair celebrated the 14th Annual Trans Day of Action. At the time, Nixon also posted a picture with her son and wrote: “I'm so proud of my son Samuel Joseph Moses (called Seph) who graduated college this month. I salute him and everyone else marking today’s #TransDayofAction. #TDOA.”
Nixon and her college sweetheart Mozes were together for five years, from 1998 to 2003, before breaking off their relationship. They had another son, Charles Ezekiel, who was born in December of 2002.
In May 2012, the ‘Amadeus’ star tied the knot with Christine Marinoni, an activist who recently worked for New York City's Deputy Mayor Richard Buery. The pair dated for several years before getting married. Nixon and Marinoni have a son together, Max.
During the podcast, Nixon also talked about white privilege and said, “I think it's really important for white people and other people to listen to people of color — that's the most important thing we can do. Right after that, we have to really start understanding how, if we are white, we benefit from white supremacy and talking about that. Because people of color are miles ahead in understanding the race problem and white people really have got to catch up.
“The first thing is listening, and the second thing is when you speak about things. Like mass incarceration of people of color — include yourself in the equation and say 'this would not happen to me'.”