Jenny Mollen just learned the hard way that the internet has very strong opinions about how people parent their own children.
The actress, 47, recently shared snaps online with her 12-year-old son, which viewers immediately called “cringe” and “absolutely disgusting.”
When Mollen later addressed the backlash, she said she was “shocked” and believed it was likely the result of her rocky marriage to Jason Biggs ending.
Jenny Mollen just learned the hard way that the internet has very strong opinions about how people parent their own children
Image credits: Jenny Mollen Biggs
Jenny Mollen, who shares 12-year-old son Sid and 8-year-old son Lazlo with Jason Biggs, recently shared pictures of herself in bed with her older son.
The actress didn’t expect to be dragged hard by critics, who had big issues with Mollen lying intertwined with her son in bed, with their faces pressed close together.
What irked some viewers even more than the pictures was the original caption Mollen had shared alongside the picture.
Image credits: jennymollen
“Your eldest son will be the most toxic guy you ever date,” read the caption, which has since been removed from the post.
Critics claimed the picture gave them “the ick,” with one saying, “CPS should be involved.”
“Is this why he divorced you?” one asked, referring to her recent split from Biggs.
“‘Boy moms’ are so strange to me,” one said.
“I hate everything about this,” read one comment online
“As a boy mom, I’m deeply appalled,” wrote another. “The first caption was reprehensible. I can’t imagine thinking that was an appropriate thing to say about your child.”
A source close to Mollen defended the pictures and said, “She’s a comedian” when asked about the controversial caption.
“The picture is nothing more than a mother hugging her 12-year-old son,” they told TMZ. “Anyone inferring anything else should be ashamed of themselves.”
Image credits: Jenny Mollen Biggs
When a shocked Mollen addressed the backlash herself, she said a photo of herself hugging her 12-year-old child was “getting ridiculed.”
“It’s like because I’m getting separated, because I’m not protected by the institution of marriage, I’m suddenly like a different kind of target in what I’m posting,” she said. “Like this is absolutely jaw-dropping.”
Mollen addressed the backlash and said the photo of herself hugging her son was “getting ridiculed”
Image credits: Jenny Mollen Biggs
Although netizens saw Mollen’s pictures with the filter of controversy, experts said the outrage might have more to do with the star making them public than with the actual mother-son moment of affection.
“It’s not at all unhealthy or immoral to cuddle, hug, wrestle or be physically close to your teenage child,” Dr. Deborah Gilboa told TODAY.com.
The family physician and parenting expert acknowledged that society is currently hypersensitive about parent-child boundaries, but it’s also impossible to paint a complete picture from a single photograph.
“When people are given only a single frame of a relationship, they often fill in the missing context themselves,” she told the outlet.
Image credits: Jenny Mollen Biggs
The expert also stressed the importance of parents being aware of how their child might see the same post about 5, 10, or 20 years down the line.
“It doesn’t prove anything about an unhealthy relationship, and it may actually be an example of a great relationship,” she said. “But we need, for our kids’ sake, to have boundaries about what we post.”
Dr. Gilboa said, hence, it’s essential for parents to set certain boundaries about what they post “for [their] kids’ sake.”
Biggs and Mollen announced their separation last month with a statement
Image credits: Jenny Mollen Biggs
Last month, a representative for Biggs and Mollen announced their separation and said they remained on “great terms.”
They are “doing great,” focusing on coparenting their two sons and had even celebrated Biggs’ 48th birthday together as a family on May 12.
Image credits: jennymollen
“They are very much connected,” the source told People. “I have no doubt that they will remain on excellent terms.”
The couple first connected on the set of their 2008 movie My Best Friend’s Girl and eloped in April, 2008.
They exchanged wedding vows in front of 40 guests at a larger ceremony in Napa, California, the same year.
“This poor child is never going to know what normal boundaries are,” one claimed online
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