AceShowbiz - Sophie Ellis-Bextor is determined to raise her sons to know that they have a "choice" when it comes to their gender identity.

The 41-year-old singer is mother to five boys with husband Richard Jones, with her youngest, Mickey, turning one in January. Since she burst onto the music scene with "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)", her collaboration with Spiller, Sophie has built up a huge LGBTQ+ fanbase, and told Britain's The Guardian newspaper that the support is "very precious" to her.

Thanks to her relationship with her fans, Sophie has become more well-versed about sexuality and gender, and told the publication she's going to do her best to raise her boys so that they know they have choices in each and every aspect of their lives.

"If you look at kids' toys, it's very much girls' toys and boys' toys, maybe even more than I remember when I was small," she mused. "I don't know if it's some weird fear that, if you give kids lots of choice and let them interpret themselves as they are, then you're going to encourage some sort of craziness. I think a lot of people feel very uncomfortable about it and I don't really know why."

"I'm not really bothered about what they (my children) choose - I just want them to feel like they have choice. I'm sure that’s how most people must feel about raising their kids."

However, Sophie admitted that she has often been surprised by her friends' "traditional" ways of thinking when it comes to their kids and the way they're raised.

"(They think) I've been given my children and I can't mould anything about them. I've just got to support them and love them and try to guide them. And that's probably why most of them are feral," she laughed.