Gay London Life | September '26 Edition - Magazine - Page 34
Photos: Matt Spike
Sophie's Serenity
Memorial Garden
There's a Barbie-pink phone box in Rebecca More's beautiful country garden
prioritise marble and wreaths, Sophie's garden is extravagant and thoughtful.
now. Not a working one - or one for working girls to advertise their beautiful
It's pink, a bit bonkers, sexy - a real utopia to reflect in. There's plenty of beautiful
bodies - but a memorial one. People post little notes into it for an icon who's been
places to sit and cry, including on a swing inside an 8-foot pink birdcage. But you're
gone since 2023. If you knew Sophie Anderson (even slightly), you already know
just as likely to end up laughing about something Sophie did or said, because, in
that's exactly the sort of thing she'd have found both moving and hilarious in
More's own words, Sophie would've hated anything too serious.
equal measure. It's beautifully on-the-nose, and very Sophie.
Sophie Anderson - one half of the Cock Destroyers, the double act that
Often, when hyper-sexualised characters leave this realm, we aren't
granted permission to think of their warmth and empathy. An increasingly
broke the internet and many cocks - tragically died in 2023. Rebecca More was
puritanical society makes this even harder. Well, fuck that, said Rebecca - and
there when Sophie's final wishes were read out at the inquest. And she's not
granted Sophie, a sex icon, a place with heart and soul. The ultimate spot
convinced they've been honoured. She isn't even sure where Sophie's ashes
for every Tart-with-a-heart, and a wonderful tribute to an incredibly unique
are. So, she's done the only thing that's ever made sense to her: built something
and complex sex worker. A loving human being with radiating empathy and
with her own hands instead of waiting for someone else to do it. Introducing
acceptance for all underdogs and those fighting silent battles.
Sophie's Serenity Memorial Garden.
Sophie's Serenity Memorial Garden isn't designed as a headstone for Sophie.
It's a celebration and a place to reflect. Unlike most memorial gardens, which
She calls Sophie "the heartbeat of the Cock Destroyers" thanks to her
comedic timing, fearlessness and the sheer force of the woman. And yet, in
the same breath - plainly and without flinching - she talks about the addiction.
Rebecca does what you should do when discussing anyone's experience
with using: she doesn't dodge it, but she also doesn't allow it to swallow
Sophie's story up. Anyone who's loved someone through active addiction
will know exactly what she's describing - how it distorts a person and makes
them do things that don't necessarily line up with who they actually are
underneath it. Sophie was responsible for her own life, and Sophie was a
genuinely unwell woman who needed help. Both true. Unfortunately, most
people pick a side. More's not interested in that, because she's talking about
her friend, not writing a morality tale.
Rebecca wants people to hold onto the real version of Sophie - the
empathetic and real version of her that sat having real conversations with
her mum and daughter, the mum who always put her son first, the woman
who used her viral social media exposure to send out heartfelt inspirational
encouragement to her followers. Sophie was a friend who could go deep when it
counted. And yes, she could be filthy, chaotic and completely unfiltered too.
Think about what actually happened here. A sex worker built a permanent
public monument to another sex worker - with no industry PR machine, no
estate, no committee - out of her own pocket, in her own back garden, because
nobody else was going to. She describes the idea for the Serenity Memorial
Garden as "a mental visual download" that she couldn't shake. That's the whole
explanation – it’s beautiful and it’s enough.
Rebecca is 46 and by her own account, is just getting started. She
has a new queer, sex-positive TV show landing soon - The Best Sex Ever,
on OUTTV. After a year that's clearly cost her more than she's letting on,
she says she needs a minute to breathe. Fair enough. Building someone a
garden while you're still grieving them yourself isn't a small task, and she did
it without asking anyone to applaud her.
So, here's something to leave you with: if you knew Sophie, loved the Cock
Destroyers, or just think people deserve to be remembered whole - talk about
her, play ‘Driving for Dick’ at full volume (it’s on Spotify), laugh at the ridiculous
bits. And if she ever made you feel less alone - she clearly had a talent for it - do
the same for somebody else. Rebecca More's already done her bit. She built the
garden so nobody's got an excuse to forget. And we won’t.
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