Peter Andre has admitted that it was his NHS doctor wife Emily MacDonagh ’s decision to keep their young children’s identities private.
The Mysterious Girl singer, 49, is father to Junior, 17, and Princess, 15 who he shares with ex-wife Katie Price.
He also has Amelia, nine, and Theo, six, with Emily.
The couple have always kept their children out of the limelight and never show their faces on social media.
It's a very different story for Peter's older kids who have been all over magazines, reality TV shows and social media since they were born.
And now Peter has revealed he wasn’t behind the decision to hide little Amelia and Theo away and that he would have probably shown them were it not for Emily.
Talking about the choice on the Netmums Podcast today, the Australian-born singer explained how he did what loads of parents do with his older children and wanted to show them off when they were younger.
Asked to talk about wanting to protect his kids from “intrusion or the lack of ability for them to be their own people”, Peter told the hosts: “I’ve got to be honest, this was an Emily decision and I respect that.
“Obviously the other two, from very young they were… we did what a lot of parent love to do. You get excited and you want to show your kid riding his bike or you want to show this awesome photo of your kids because, for me, you’re sharing something joyous.”
But things changed when he and wife Emily had Amelia and Theo.
“When Emily, when we had Millie and Theo, said ‘I don’t want that’, I had to respect that and I understood her reasonings for it.”
“She’s right, she doesn’t want them at school to be recognised. She just want them to be what she says is normal and I respect that.”
However, Peter admitted he would have likely shown snaps of his younger children as he did with his older two, were it not for Emily’s intervention.
“But I have to be honest, I can’t lie, I probably would have shown pictures.
“There’s many times when there’s the most adorable picture of Millie or Theo and I just wish people could see it.”
He told how fans find it difficult to understand their decision to keep their children out of the limelight but gave a simple explanation.
“Sometimes, when I post pictures, we blur their face out or they’re facing the back or us and people will go, ‘why would you post pictures of them if you don’t have their faces in it?’
“I’m not going to say to them, step out of the family picture so we can have one, they’re part of the family, that is the picture, it’s just we’re not going to show their faces in it.
“And I have to respect Emily for that. I would like to take credit and say ‘Well, I thought…’ but I didn’t. I actually probably would have shown them.”
Peter went on to say he completely understood why people want to show their children online as he’s been on both sides of the argument.
“I get why people want to show their kids, they’re proud, they’re excited, they want to be like ‘Hey, look at what my son’s done’,” he said.
“That’s a typical parent thing to want to do but I also understand the other side and it’s definitely taught me something new.
“Why would you want them at school to be looked at different? I get it.”
