11 Times Stars Were Slammed for Their Parenting

Back in 2006, Britney Spears was photographed driving with her four-month-old son Sean sitting on her lap, and was immediately hit with backlash over the obvious safety concerns. “I was terrified that this time the physically aggressive paparazzi would put both me and my baby in danger,” said in a statement, claiming that she was in a panic trying to escape a crush of paparazzi. Her statement did little to quell the controversy, however, and she was subsequently investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services over concerns of child neglect and abuse; no subsequent action was taken against her.

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The 2012 birth of Blue Ivy Carter, the first child of Beyonce and husband Jay-Z, was greeted with the kind of attention usually paid to royalty, and that scrutiny increased as she grew older. When Blue Ivy was two, however, fans couldn’t help noticing her wild, unruly hair, leading numerous people to weigh in by demanding Queen Bey to “PLEASE COMB HER HAIR,” making insulting comments — i.e. “Because no child whose mom spends thousands on her hair (monthly) should live life looking like a sheep!” — and accusing her of “cruelty to children.” In fact, one person even started a petition demanding Bey comb her daughter’s hair. Beyonce obliquely addressed the controversy in her 2016 song “Formation,” singing, "I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros."

Alicia Silverstone posted a video online in 2012 of herself chewing up some food and feeding it to her 10-month-old son, Bear, directly from her mouth to his. Fans quickly registered their disgust, questioning her hygiene while pointing out that she’s a human, not a bird. Following the fracas, the Clueless star defended herself. “It's a part of the weaning process, so while I'm still breast-feeding it's just a way to introduce him to food when he doesn't have teeth… and he can't chew,” she told Entertainment Tonight, explaining she started doing it “when he was about five months old — I'd be eating and he would come at me with his little mouth open and be on my mouth trying to get the food out of my mouth.”

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In 2017, Kelly Clarkson shared a cute video on Instagram of her two-year-old daughter, River, having her “first Nutella experience,” chowing down on a piece of toast slathered with the hazelnut-chocolate spread. Instead of receiving smiley face emojis, however, Clarkson was hit with backlash from people pointing out that Nutella is “hella bad for you,” “PACKED with sugars” and the totally-not-true warning that it’s “confirmed to give cancer,” while one over-the-top comment insisted, “Giving food like this to a child is child abuse.”

A 2018 Facebook documentary on Tom Brady featured a scene in which the New England Patriots quarterback was in the midst of getting a massage when his 11-year-old son with supermodel Gisele Bundchen interrupted to ask a question about his fantasy football team. The interaction ended with the boy giving his dad a kiss on the mouth. Fans quickly took to Twitter to bash Brady, describing the kiss with words such as “uncomfortable” and “disturbing.” On the flip side, numerous people also came to his defence by saying the kiss was simply evidence that he’s a loving father.

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Kim Kardashian has faced her fair share of online “mommy shaming” over the years, but one incident in particular really riled people up, when she posted a photo on Facebook of son Saint, then 20 months old, in a car seat that faced forward. The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star was quickly inundated with critical comments blasting her for not having a rear-facing seat for a child that age. However, she quickly shut her haters down in a subsequent video she posted on social media. “What people didn’t know is that Saint is now the weight and height requirement to sit forward-facing,” she said. “Saint actually weighs more than [older sibling] North, if that is believable.”

Kim isn’t the only Kardashian to be slammed for her parenting, as sis Kourtney can attest after the mother of three posted a photo on social media of her bikini-clad self relaxing on a yacht. When commenters began taking her to task for child abandonment, wondering why she was spending so much time away from her kids, Kardashian quickly bit back. “My son was taking the photo, and the other two were sitting at a table across from me,” was her snippy reply. “Thank you so much for your concern.”

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In addition to being the child star of Blossom and the grown-up star of The Big Bang Theory, Mayim Bialik also possesses a Ph.D in neuroscience and is the author of Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way. Attachment parenting, for the uninitiated, is a controversial child-rearing philosophy that endorses such practices as long-term breastfeeding, parents co-sleeping with children and carrying children instead of using a stroller. Bialik’s book faced heavy-duty backlash, compelling her to respond in a lengthy online essay, pointing out that “I specifically wrote a book about my experience. I did not write a parenting book,” noting that her intent wasn’t to tell others how to raise their kids, but explain what life in her home looks like.

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Best known for playing snooty student Blair on beloved ’80s sitcom The Facts of Life, actress Lisa Whelchel took heat in 2004 when the evangelical Christian wrote a book about child-rearing from a religious perspective, Creative Correction: Extraordinary Ideas for Everyday Discipline. In the book, Whelchel discusses disciplining her children by her use of such unorthodox methods such as pinching a child’s tongue with a clothespin or putting a drop of fiery hot sauce on a kid’s tongue. While many people were aghast, Whelchel justified the practice by quoting a passage from the Book of Proverbs: “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.”

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Canada’s own Alanis Morisette took some serious heat for some 2012 comments about breastfeeding she made on Good Morning America, insisting she planned to nurse her son — then 17 months old ­— for as long as he wanted, even until age five or six. “I’ll stop whenever he wants,” she explained. “Some kids naturally stop at two, some stop at a couple of years later, it's up to the child. I will stop when he says it's time to stop.” As you may expect, the “You Oughtta Know” singer was blasted over the notion of breastfeeding a six-year-old, but this rock ‘n’ roll mom didn’t back down, controversy be damned.

Celebrity couple Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard were taken to task after she revealed their three-year-old daughter has a tough time getting to sleep — which they’ remedied by locking her in her bedroom. “We switched the door knob. We turned the lock on the outside,” explained Bell. “I’m sorry, I know that’s controversial, but we lock [the door] when she gets in there, and we stand outside and say, ‘We love you, we will talk to you in the morning, but now, it’s time for sleep.' Then after about 10 minutes, she’ll wind herself down. And then, before we go to bed, obviously, we unlock it.” Bell’s admission earned some angry responses on social media, with some questioning the safety of locking a child in her room, while others just thought it was cruel. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?! Locking a kid inside a room?!” wrote one commenter, while another added, "This is disgusting,” and another simply mocked her. “Sorry your child is inconveniencing you. Don't have any more.”

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