Proud of her parenting! Hilary Duff is taking a stand against mom-shamers’ recent critiques.
The Younger alum, 34, reflected on the backlash she received last month for photos of her 3-year-old daughter, Banks, not wearing a booster seat during a car ride in her Thursday, February 23, Romper cover story.
“My publicist would absolutely kill me if I brought this up,” the How I Met Your Father star told the outlet. “There was this huge story that came out because my friend Molly [Bernard] was in the backseat of our car with Banks without her car seat. It’s not like I’m driving on the 405 with my kids in the backseat without a car seat.”
The former Disney Channel star noted that the parenting police didn’t have any “context” to the story.
“You don’t know where I am,” the Lizzie McGuire alum explained. “Do you know how many times I let my kids sit on my front seat once we get [close to our driveway] to pretend like they’re driving home? You’re telling me you’ve never put your kid in the backseat to drive a block before with an adult back there? I’m like, ‘Happy New Year to you, too.’”
The Texas native has also been bashed over the years for having Banks’ ears pierced in 2019, as well as her 10-month-old daughter Mae’s in 2021. The Haunting of Sharon Tate star clarified last year that she was “not a child abuser” for the decision.
“There are so many opinions about that,” Duff, who is also the mother of son Luca, 9, said on Thursday.
The “Metamorphosis” singer also told tell Romper about the “guilt” she felt when she stopped breast-feeding her youngest daughter at seven weeks.
“With Luca and Banks, I got to seven months,” the songwriter explained. “With Mae … I was like, ‘I’m done.’ I spent all my time in that chair in the corner either feeding her or pumping, and I wasn’t making enough milk, so I was also having to supplement, so the whole feeding process was so long. I was like, ‘What am I doing? The guilt is why I’m staying here.’ I don’t want the mommy warriors to come after me.”
Duff noted that she has “the craziest guilt,” saying, “I don’t know why that was my mom card dealt to me, but I feel like I can never give my kids enough of me.”
The Elixir author felt “tons of anxiety” while nursing, as she wasn’t “a huge milk producer,” she told Dr. Berlin in an “Informed Pregnancy Podcast” episode in April 2021.
“It’s emotional for me,” the Lizzie McGuire Movie star said at the time. “In fact, this is the first baby that I haven’t supplemented with yet, so I’ve just exclusively been breast-feeding her. I’m going to keep trying that for a couple of weeks. … I’m not even at week three yet, so I need to just sit back and chill and trust that my body is doing the right thing. And she’s gaining weight.”
