Laurence Fox takes a swipe at ex-wife Billie Piper

Laurence Fox appears to have taken a thinly-veiled swipe at ex-wife Billie Piper.

The 38-year-old actor and singer, whose nine-year marriage officially ended earlier this year, has seemingly compared the blonde star to a dead hamster during a performance at the Isle of Wight festival.

He said: "Some of you may know I’ve lost my pet hamster recently. It’s a very emotional time."

Laurence subsequently performed a number of tracks about relationship break-ups and heartache.

He then added, according to the Sunday Mirror newspaper: "All these songs are about my old hamster. I miss him terribly."

The remainder of Laurence’s set continued in a similar manner, with the actor-turned-singer later saying: "Losing hamsters is hideous. It’s very bad because the cage all needs to be rearranged – the kids."

The celebrity duo have two young children together, who are four and seven years old, and Laurence admitted that his song ‘The Best Mistake’ was also about them.

This comes shortly after Laurence blasted his former mother-in-law in a heated on-stage rant during a gig.

Laurence claimed during his recent concert in Manchester that he has major "beef" with Mandy Kane Kent and blamed her for their shock split.

Laurence introduced his song ‘So Be Damned’ by saying: "This is a song about my soon to be ex mother-in-law. I s**t you not. I s**t you not."

Laurence sarcastically went on: "She’s a wonderful woman actually, I’ve got no beef with her," before he added: "Do I? Yeah I do, I’ve got a beef with her, man."

When the couple formally confirmed their split, they did so via a Facebook post which read: "Laurence Fox and Billie Piper have separated. No third parties are involved. For the sake of our family we request and appeal for space and privacy at this time."