Natalie Imbruglia is trying to keep her son out of the spotlight.

The Torn hitmaker welcomed Max Valentine in 2019 - with the child conceived using IVF and sperm from an unnamed donor - and explained why she has stayed true to a vow she made not to expand further on her fertility journey.

Speaking to The Sunday Times newspaper's Style magazine, Natalie said: "I keep him out of it as best I can.

"I prefer not to, out of respect for him. He's a very private person, so I think it would bother him. So apart from the fact that I've been honest in my statement, I don't go into it."

The Australian star revealed how becoming a parent helped to end the writer's block she had been suffering from.

Natalie, 51, said: "I didn't realise that whole period of writer's block coincided with the yearning to be a mother. And it was a long journey for me. If a massive part of something that's important to you isn't in place, it's going to affect everything.

"It (motherhood) has made me more ambitious. I'm more driven. And I'm a single parent. Mama bear wants to provide."

Imbruglia will release Algorithm, her first studio album for five years, in September and revealed how her experience of perimenopause has inspired many of the tracks featured on it.

The former Neighbours actress said: "Let's just say it was a grieving process. I was really angry. I fell off a cliff. It felt like someone had taken some of my personality. I'd talk about it and people would try to hush me. Now I'm very outspoken.

"Thank God for (TV presenter) Davina McCall - I bumped into her in a restaurant at the time. I was like, 'Tell me everything!'

"It's really important that we speak up and stop going, 'Oh, I just breezed through it.' How is that helping anyone? Beware, women, if you start saying, 'I just don't feel like myself.' I said that for a year before I addressed anything."

Natalie admits that she "probably hurt a lot of people" as a result of the anxiety and anger she felt.

She said: "I probably hurt a lot of people that I wish I hadn't, but until you have the tools and the HRT cream... HRT worked, absolutely.

"But how wonderful that this is not a shameful topic or a taboo subject. Imagine how it was for our mothers."