In an emotional interview with Glamour UK, Megan Fox is opening up about motherhood, fame, and how she teaches her kids about gender identity.

Fox has three sons: Noah, 9, Bodhi, 8, and Journey, 5. She’s been open about Noah’s desire to wear dresses to express himself since he was a toddler, and the bullying he’s endured because of it. During the interview, she explains how she’s always taught her kids about gender identity and how to be confident in themselves and who they are. [Editor’s note: We are using both gender-neutral and masculine pronouns in this story, similar to how Fox talks about Noah.]

“Noah started wearing dresses when he was about two, and I bought a bunch of books that sort of addressed these things and addressed a full spectrum of what this is,” Fox explains. “Some of the books are written by transgender children. Some of the books are just about how you can be a boy and wear a dress; you can express yourself through your clothing however you want. And that doesn’t even have to have anything to do with your sexuality.”

She says she knows she can’t control how other kids are taught about things like gender identity, and how hard that is.

“That’s why I don’t really put my children on Instagram or social media,” she says.

Fox says her children attend a school where “the other parents are similar in their beliefs,” and that most of the kids at this school don’t have regular access to the internet. She grew emotional and teared up while explaining how it works.

“So they know that their parents are famous, but their knowledge of it is very limited,” she said. “I knew when they were very young, I wanted to try to protect them however I could and a lot of that had to do with limiting their exposure to the internet. So far, we’ve done a really good job and we maintain their innocence in a lot of ways, but I know I can’t protect them forever, though I do have a child that suffers.”

Fox last shared images of her children on Instagram back in 2018. She says even though she’s an incredibly proud mother, she just doesn’t feel comfortable putting them out there for the world to see and react to.

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“I’m so proud of my kids. Noah is an unbelievable pianist. Noah can learn Mozart’s concerto in an hour and just absolutely shred on the piano,” she says, explaining that she’d love to be able to share that with people. “But I also don’t want the world to have access to this gentle soul and say all the things that we all know they’re going to say.”

It’s more than understandable that celebrity parents would want to respect their children’s autonomy and boundaries by keeping them out of the public eye and off of their social media accounts. Children can’t make these decisions, so as parents, we’re responsible for making them on their behalf.

Sure, we all want to share the amazing moments of their childhood and our parental pride with the world from infancy onward. Celebrities and influencers may have chosen to live life in the public eye, but their children haven’t. Your children have access to the world, but the world doesn’t have to have access to your children.

In regard to Noah and her desire for him to live life as true to themself as possible, she acknowledges that the world isn’t always kind to kids they deem “different” and how she wishes she could protect him.

“So I have a lot of worries about that, because I just wish that humanity was not like this,” Fox says “Although my kid is so brave and my child is so brave and I know that they’ve chosen this journey for a reason. It’s just hard as a mom.”

One thing she’s completely nailed is making sure her children know they’re accepted, loved, and brave at home by having open discussions and reading inclusive children’s books about gender identity.

“From the time they were very young, I’ve incorporated those things into their daily lives so that nobody feels like they are weird or strange or different.”

Well done, mama. You and your kids are fortunate to have one another on this journey.