Has the Sienna Miller Rebrand stuck? I think it worked, sort of. Sienna is no longer a constant in the tabloids, British or American, and she seems to be working consistently, at times to great acclaim. I think she’s living most of the time in New York too, and she and Tom Sturridge co-parent their daughter Marlowe pretty successfully. I say that because I don’t hear about any issues between them, and they seem to still get along pretty well and spend time together with Marlowe. But it’s not all sunshine and roses for Sienna – apparently, Marlowe is a “petri dish of germs” and the four-year-old recently came home with lice.
It may seem like celebrity parents and kids don’t have to deal with the same challenges of everyday life that many do, but in Sienna Miller‘s case, that’s just not true. Case in point? Her 4-year-old daughter Marlowe came home from school recently with something most parents dread having to deal with.
“She got nits for the first time — like head lice,” the actress, 34, told PEOPLE Tuesday at an N.Y.C. screening of her new gangster drama Live By Night. Adds Miller, “She’s like a petri dish of germs. She just brings home things from school. It’s the joy of having a child in school. She said, ‘I’ve got ants in my head,’ ” recalls Miller. “And I was like, ‘Oh no!’ I knew exactly what it was.”
The single mom — she and Marlowe’s dad Tom Sturridge split in July 2015 — says that despite the slight panic in hearing her daughter brought lice home, she nipped it in the bud quickly.
“Yeah, we dealt with it. We had the hair fairies over,” she says.
Now that the lice issue is behind them, the mother-daughter duo is focusing on enjoying the holiday season together in a low-key, relaxing way.
“We’re gonna be in England. We’re gonna be snuggled up with old movies and fireplaces, and Mama’s gonna have some wine,” shares the actress. “Gonna stuff our faces with turkey and food, like we do every year, and try not to squabble as a family.”
I guess I was a blessed child because I never had lice. I do remember that there were some kids who had lice, but when I was growing up, people always associated lice with being low-class, which I’m just now understanding is a ridiculous notion. Anyone can get lice! Now, I did pick up nearly everything else going around though, and that was my M.O. through college even. Like, as soon as a school year started, I would get sick with whatever was going around. I remember chicken pox going through my elementary school like the plague – kids were dropping like flies! So yes, I do think ALL kids are petri dishes of germs. Gross.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
I’ve never been a fan of hers but she does seem to have finally grown up a bit. I think she’s still the drama queen but has learned to lock her sh!t down and stay away from the spotlight.
Thou gossip wise she’s moved on from dating men who will raise her profile to men who will help her career i.e. Tom helped her career a lot as he (by her own admission) helped her pick roles and worked with her on her acting as well. Now the new man is a director.
I was a teacher back in the olden days. Even kids at exclusive prep schools get lice! It’s totally normal and in no way indicates uncleanliness, yet parents were always embarrassed about it. There shouldn’t be a stigma about it, so I find it refreshing that a celebrity is talking about her child having it.
Thank you! As someone who has had two rounds with different kids, I whole-heartedly agree. The work involved in fully ridding yourself of these charming creatures is intensive and you have to remain with it for weeks. I think that’s where the stigma started: some folks don’t have the time or money to fully eradicate it.
I believe that head lice prefer clean hair, because they can move around it freely, whereas they get impeded by lumpy greasy hair…. I think she’s very pretty, and a reasonable actress in the right role.
We got a notice sent home about it once in elementary school, and one time the school nurse came through and checked all of our heads during our lesson, but I am thankful to say I’ve made it these 40 years without lice (knocks wood). I agree, when I was growing up, I thought it was caused by not washing your hair or being dirty. But I’ve read and seen a few stories and they do seem relatively common (shudders). I love how they call them nits in Britain, makes them seem much less disgusting, IMO
Same here, I remember the nurse coming around every so often with a comb and checking our heads for lice. I don’t remember actually having it but I do remember my mom washing my hair with that horrible RID shampoo – I thought as a precaution, but who knows, maybe I did have it!
But then again, I was the kid who never caught chicken pox, so maybe I actually did manage to avoid the lice also 😀
We used to have lice checks regularly in elementary school. They found two lice eggs in my hair once and sent me home – literally caught it at the earliest possible point – and my mom went nuts. Washed my hair twice with RID and rinsed with vinegar.
But I’ll tell you what – I didn’t have lice after that, and never had it again (knocks wood).
A nit is actually a baby louse–don’t ask how I know that.
yeah, even the cleanest kid can get head lice, my mother was a dragon about hygiene and even I managed to get them twice. It sucked.
On a side note, Sienna’s bone structure is GORGEOUS. I don’t normally think much of blonde tanned posh-girl types , but she has the most amazing cheekbones and stands out way more than that type usually do.
Her face is beautiful. Too bad about her style.
yeah, it is no reflection of anything (other than possibly having really clean hair :)…my two sons have never had them, and i never had them as a child…but i was helping some of the younger grades with reading a few years ago and caught them!
no hair fairies for me…i just shaved it all off.
we have had quite an epidemic in our school, though…notices once a month since august.
i feel for parents of any kid with long hair and lice. what a pain to get rid of them that way…
One of my worst fears is my daughter coming home with lice. The very idea makes me itch. We both have long, thick hair. Getting rid of it sounds like an absolute nightmare!!!
I’m sure her daughter will be thrilled to know in the future that her mother used personal info about her to stay relevant as a celebrity mommy.
i have to disagree…a) because i agree that her coming out with this casually will help de-stigmatize lice…a lot of people suffer shame and embarrassment about it, and b) i doubt, being raised by someone who is casual about it means she won’t feel fussed about it when she is older.
just curious but why would you view it as something said for “relevance” as a celebrity mom? i don’t think i have ever heard of another celeb mom admitting her child had lice, so to me that would (in the case of seeking relevance) be doing the opposite.
I never had lice. Thankfully. I do remember a check at school once though. I now work with children and haven’t caught any from them. In France they have this spray I just found out about when a mother sprayed her kids hair before putting on a hat. I asked her what she was doing and she said it’s preventative for nits. I’m sure it’s some homeopath type stuff because that’s how rich folks are here in Paris but it’s nice to know there’s a prevention for it.
Agreed it was always thought that poor people got lice or people with bad hygiene.
When my daughters were in elementary school there were constantly lice outbreaks with “super” lice. My oldest daughter never had head lice, but my youngest daughter did. Over and over and over again. I thought was so odd because I would do everything recommended to get rid of them. Then they’d return. It was a scourge haha. Anyway, finally in total exasperation after I also caught a lovely case of head lice, I hauled her to the pediatrician to see if there was anything I could do to just make it stop. She told me that some people are more prone to catching head lice. I forget exactly why, I’ll have to Google it, but she thought that’s why she kept coming home with it. Which would make sense since my daughters attended the same school at the same time and one got it repeatedly and one never did.
She also told me that lice are adapting to the shampoos and they don’t really work that great. She said one thing that helps in prevention is putting a little tea tree oil in their shampoo and conditioner because lice hate the smell of it. And to get rid of it she said the best thing is to get a lice comb and use it often. Run a little tea tree oil through the hair or mix it with water or detangler and spray it on. Every day, multiple times a day, for at least a week, preferably on wet or damp hair. That was the only thing that worked to finally get rid of it for good and she didn’t bring them home again.
I remember the nit-nurse coming round the school. Haha, even after all this time.