Harry Styles' mum Anne has hit back at critics of her son's gender-defying Vogue cover photoshoot.
The singer made history last week by becoming the first male to have a solo cover of Vogue - but his decision to embrace his feminine side by wearing dresses for some photos drew criticism from U.S. right-wing commentators Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro and their followers.
On U.K. TV show Lorraine on Tuesday, Anne leapt to her son's defence and explained that she has always encouraged him to play "dress-up".
"I think maybe I had something to do with it because I was always a big fan of doing fancy dress with them when they were smaller, which (Harry's sister) Gemma always hated but Harry always embraced," she said. "But who doesn't love playing dress-up?"
The pop star's mum, who has been raising money for the charity Parkinson's UK, went on to say that she hopes to see Harry this Christmas, Covid-19 restrictions allowing.
"Who knows what will happen but I am just keeping my fingers crossed," she added. "It will be a very different Christmas if I don't get to see them. They are both vegetarian now, so I am the only one that eats the turkey!"
Harry's genderfluid sense of style has been well received in other circles, as bosses at online fashion shopping platform Lyst have put him at the top of their 2020 Power Dressers list after crunching search, views, and sales metrics from their customers.
The Watermelon Sugar hitmaker beats Beyonce into second place, with BTS rapper RM in third position.
