Celebrity parents would do anything for their children — and that includes defending them in the spotlight.
According to the federal organization Stop Bullying, 20 percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18 have experienced bullying, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as physical or verbal abuse or damaging their property. And as we know, online bullying is just as toxic. Among the aforementioned bullied teens, 15 percent were targets online or via text message.
With children having access to social media — according to an October 2021 national survey, one-third of children between the ages of seven and nine use various platforms — it’s fairy easy to bully kids, even while staying anonymous. But according to The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, there are ways to lessen a child’s risk for bullying, such as adopting an authoritative parenting style and helping kids build emotional intelligence.
Some celebrities have gotten very outspoken in defense of their children, either slamming online haters or using their huge public platforms to spread kindness. For example, Megan Fox, who shares three sons with ex-husband Brian Austin Green, teaches their eldest “to be confident no matter what anyone else says” when he gets teased for wearing dresses. And Khloé Kardashian once schooled a social media troll for labeling her 3-year-old daughter True “not cute.”
Bravo to these fierce parents for standing up to their children’s bullies and teaching them to be resilient! Read on for more examples.
Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott understand the judgment that comes with fame but they’ll speak up quickly if anyone trolls their children, Liam, Stella, Hattie, Finn, and Beau McDermott. In 2019, when the BH90210 star posted a family photo, some commenters made insulting remarks about her children’s clothing and body size.
“I am absolutely horrified and disgusted by the comments being left about my children,” McDermott responded in the comments section of the post. “Body shaming and bullying my children??!! What is wrong with you people??!! For your information, we went from a long day at school to the movie. And I don’t know any child that is NOT disheveled at the end of the day. Not to mention that just before this picture was taken, they were wrestling and running around with all the other kids that were at the movie.”
He added, “So I apologize we didn’t get the iron and steamer out to make them perfect for you. Their kids. They’re messy and dirty. That’s what they do. And what’s wrong with shopping at Target??!! Over half of America shops there. The way they grow out of clothing so quickly is astounding. Are we supposed to shop at Gucci?? These are kids folks. Messy stinky little bundles of fun, laughter and love.”
Candace Cameron Bure
Candace Cameron Bure’s 2020 family Christmas card featured the Fuller House actress, her husband Valerie, and their three children Natasha, Lev, and Maksim. While the group photo was lovely, some followers criticized Bure’s kids for their “confused” and “terrified “facial expressions.
The actress responded in a currently-deleted Facebook post writing, “Do you think it’s funny to criticize someone’s children? To make jokes about them? To critique our poses? The direction in which we are looking? Our physical appearance and facial expressions?”
She added, “…P.S. Please don’t tell me to ignore the ‘haters.’ There were plenty of well-meaning people who thought it would be funny to point out things and share their commentary, ‘with love.’ Umm … that’s not love. That’s rude.”
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone’s 10-year-old son Bear always wore his hair long (before eventually cutting it), for which he sometimes was mocked by his peers . In 2020, the actress shared a real-life example on Instagram. “One time my son was made fun of by other kids because of his hair on a bus ride to surf camp,” she wrote alongside a photo of the boy. “After he had returned and told me, I thought he would want to cut it for a haircut appointment we had already scheduled the next day, but when we showed up, he said ‘Please give me a trim so I can grow it to my waist.’ That’s my boy! He knows who he is. He loves his hair and chooses to have it long. Mama and Papa aren’t going to stop him from being him.”
She added, “He’s beautiful and we love his hair! We would never impose any social ideas about what hair on a boy or girl should look like. We should all try to embrace our children and who they choose to be without any judgment!”
Megan Fox & Brian Austin Green
Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green are divorced (and Fox is engaged to Machine Gun Kelly) however they co-parent their sons Noah, 9, Bohdi, 7, and Journey, 5.
And the former couple always defends their children’s choices from the length of their hair to their clothing styles. In 2020, when the BeverlyHills 90210 alum posted a family selfie, trolls attacked his sons’ appearances.
“The fact is my boys have and like long hair,” Green responded on Instagram. “In my opinion they are beautiful and will still be and possibly be mistaken for girls if they wore matching short and T-shirt combos and had short hair. Some people like boys and men with long hair. Some people don’t. Both opinions are OK.”
And Fox has praised Noah’s love of dresses, even when he’s bullied for it. “I send him to a really liberal, like, hippy school, but even there, in California, he still has little boys going, ‘Boys don’t wear dresses,’ or ‘Boys don’t wear pink,'” Fox said in 2019 on The Talk, adding that she encourages Noah “to be confident no matter what anyone else says.”
Khloé Kardashian
In 2018, when an Instagram user called Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson’s 3-year-old daughter True “not cute,” the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star hit back.
“What self-respecting adult would even comment on a child’s appearance?” she tweeted. “What type of disgusting human being are you? It’s pathetic that you are this miserable in your life.”
Kardashian later told Cosmopolitan UK that incidents like these made her hesitate to post True’s photo online. “I’ve learned that you can’t just post anything because people will comment and say the craziest things!” she said. “I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I remember I posted a video of her talking – she was eating cut up grapes and people were going, ‘Cut the grapes, she’s going to choke.’ And I was like, ‘They’re cut!’ I’m not going to let my child choke. People give unsolicited commentary no matter what you do. So I try and keep True stuff as clear and simple as I can for her sake. I don’t want that energy on my child. Leave her alone.”
Jennifer ‘JWoww’ Farley
In 2020, Jersey Shore star Jennifer Farley posted a video of her then 5-year-old son Greyson hitting his older sister Meilani in an attempt to get her out of bed and one Instagram user criticized the boy’s behavior.
Farley, who in the video had corrected her son, responded to the commenter, “I am encouraging my son to help wake his sister for school. He gets joy out of helping me and helping his sister. He also is learning what he can and can’t do. One being hitting. I can reassure you, almost every parent will deal with this issue, because it’s called life. I posted it because it’s a brother learning boundaries with his sister but also excited to wake her for school. You, on the other hand, want to encourage problems when there are none.”
Rachel Zoe
Stylist Rachel Zoe’s two sons Kaius, 8, and Skylar, 10, wear their hair long, a decision that’s rattled internet trolls.
In 2019, Zoe addressed cruel comments specifically made toward Kaius in an interview with People. “For the record, my son thinks he has cool surfer hair. At the end of the day, it’s not like I’m torturing him. He loves his hair. He thinks it’s cool.”
She also shared an example in which someone on Instagram said her kids were old enough to realize their hair makes them a target. “I responded with, ‘Please unfollow me,'” Zoe told People adding, “I think anyone who takes the time to insult someone’s child is pretty much a horrific human being.”
Gordon Ramsay
Chef Gordon Ramsay defended his daughter Tilly in 2020 after she was fat shamed by a British radio host. When LBC presenter Steve Allen said that Tilly was a “chubby little thing” after she performed on the television show Strictly Come Dancing, she wrote on Instagram, “I won’t tolerate people that think it’s okay to publicly comment and scrutinize anyone’s weight and appearance.”
And Gordon backed her up. “It made me feel very proud that she stood up and said, ‘I’m not taking this’…” he said on Instagram Live. “…She is 19-years of age for goodness’ sake —bursting her a**e off and attending university by Zoom…”
He continued, “I think it was a breath of fresh air that level of standing up and saying, ‘We’re not going to tolerate that,’” adding, “And we agree she handled it like a queen.”
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