I can’t remember a time before my stepmum . She married my dad when I was five but is – in an unusual twist that leaves many scratching their heads but to me seems entirely ordinary – my mum’s cousin. So she has, actually, known me for my whole life.
She’s watched me grow from newborn to child to adult to mum of my own two children. She has been there, really, from the very beginning, a central character in the novel of my life. Perhaps this is why I’m so defensive – so celebratory, in fact – of stepmums .
They do, after all, get a bad rep. In popular culture, they’re depicted as cruel, twisted women whose sole motivation is to slight and belittle the children they take on. From Snow White’s wicked stepmother to the (albeit iconic) Meredith Blake in Parent Trap , we are shown stepmothers that are cold, unloving, and envious.
Even the term “step” comes from the Old English word “steop” which means “loss”, suggesting stepmothers are, in and of themselves, something lesser. Stepmothers aren’t kind, according to legend. They aren’t warm or giving.
They don’t message their stepchildren after a break-up to check on them or send them hampers of delicious goodies on their birthdays. They don’t cook, genuinely, the best roast dinners I know. Or share links to podcasts they think their stepchildren will enjoy.
No, none of these wicked stepmothers are like mine. Or, it seems, like Kamala Harris . Harris, the US vice-president and 2024 Democratic p.