Standing up to the mom shamers. Coco Austin slammed the “ridiculous” reaction to a photo of her 6-year-old daughter, Chanel, riding in a stroller.
“Oh lord!! Really people?” the model, 43, wrote via Twitter on Tuesday, May 24, in response to the influx of opinions she received about the picture. “The world loves to criticize [literally] everything i do!”
Austin continued: “This stroller thing trending right now [and the comments] about me using a stroller to push Chanel around is ridiculous! Isn’t there a war & mass shootings going as we speak & you’d rather mess with my mothering? SMH.”
The Ice Loves Coco alum gave fans a glimpse into a day out with her family during a vacation to the Bahamas on Sunday, May 22, which featured the little one sitting in a pram, with an incredibly bored look on her face. “A stroll through the @atlantisbahamas shops … Chanel is so over it unless there’s something cool to see .. Her face transitions instantly,” Austin captioned the photo via Instagram.
The picture sparked a debate among followers in the comments of her post, with some arguing that Austin and Ice-T were not letting their daughter “grow up” by walking around the mall with their parents. Other people, however, came to the California native’s defense, explaining that it can sometimes be easier for a child to ride in a stroller during a long day. “You going to pick her up when she gets tired? Its not like she has a bottle and a pacifier. Relax,” one follower wrote.
Austin and the “Body Count” rapper, 64, have dealt with criticism over their parenting choices on multiple occasions in the past.
“Chanel still likes my boobs,” Austin exclusively told Us Weekly in July 2021, revealing that the then-5-year-old still breastfed on occasion. “It’s a big bonding moment for a mother and your child. … Why take that away from her? … If she doesn’t want it, all right, that’s where you stop it. But I’m not just going to say no.”
Two months later, the dancer made headlines after she showed off Chanel’s acrylic nails ahead of her school picture day. “For the special occasion, I let Chanel do mini tips to her nails. I love doing her hair. My little doll baby is what I call her,” Austin wrote via Instagram in September 2021.
After she received backlash for the manicure, Ice-T defended the way he and his wife choose to parent their child, explaining that “everybody parents differently” and that their baby girl is “loved” and “doing okay.”
“Rule one on the internet: Do not pay attention to anything anyone says on the internet,” the Law & Order: SVU star said during an October 2021 appearance on The View when he was asked about the parenting criticism. “Worry about the people that walk up to you and say things in your real life. Those are the people you should be concerned with. The internet is the world. It’s the world talking, so I don’t pay attention.”
