Alabama Barker is getting real about her experience dealing with internet haters.
The 17-year-old aspiring musician, who is the daughter of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler, responded to a social media user who asked how she is able to “stay so positive” when receiving so much criticism on the internet.
“I’m not going to sit here & lie and say it’s easy and to keep pushing,” Alabama wrote in an Instagram Story shared on Wednesday, October 11. “It gets very challenging especially when they don’t know you. I feel very misunderstood!”
She continued, “People are going to hate regardless … you need not to feed into it, you won’t benefit from it! Keep your peace protected.”
Alabama later offered further advice, writing, “Don’t entertain what people say about you, if you know yourself & your morals & your intentions, nothing else matters.”
Last month, Alabama admitted that she sometimes feels tempted to respond to internet trolls.
“Sometimes I find myself wanting to clap back,” she wrote on September 3. “Bark at everyone who bites at me. But then I look at those people, like really look at them … what kind of life they’re living. The choice they’re making. The things they do compared to do I am, what I do & how I live. And that, itself keeps me humble.
She concluded the post by saying, “Misery loves company but we’re cut from different cloths, made from different sauces. Stay blessed, wish them well and remind yourself that the evil-hearted never win.”
Alabama has battled internet trolls on multiple occasions. In February 2022, the then-16-year-old defended a TikTok she made with her shirtless dad.
When one user said her song choice of as Kalan.FrFr and Bino Rideaux’s “Tell Me” was “strange,” the teen replied, “Y’all do to f–kin much stop trying to make s–t weird. Worry about yourself it’s old.”
More recently, in August, Alabama opened up about her autoimmune disease after receiving criticism about her body. “I would love to see you guys getting random pictures taken of you when you’re leaving the grocery store, [speaking in] the middle of a sentence and your mouth wide open and let’s see how beautiful you look,” she said in a TikTok.
She added that several factors out of her control, including “a thyroid problem and autoimmune disease” contributed to her weight gain.
Alabama has also defended her choice to pursue rap music.
“I’m tired of people saying I don’t know anything about rap music, I wasn’t raised around rap music, I wasn’t anything,” she said in a since-deleted TikTok in May. “So, let’s take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well.”
“Since I could walk, I was in the music industry,” Alabama continued. “I was watching my dad perform in punk bands, rock bands, in rap concerts, everything. So, for the people that say, ‘Oh, she doesn’t know anything about rap music. She didn’t grow up around rap music. Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that?’ I’ve been influenced by rap my entire upbringing and punk rock.”
