Tori Spelling is hitting back at online bullies, especially those who comment on her childrens’ appearance. The star shares five children with husband Dean McDermott, all between the ages of 14 and 4. She is also a stepmom to McDermott’s 23 year-old son, whom he shares with ex Mary Jo Eustace.
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Spelling Asks Bullies ‘What Are You Doing?”
“When grown adults pick apart your child’s physical appearance, like, what are you doing? This is easy [not to do,]” Spelling said in an interview with In Touch. “I have to admit, I’ll go on their account just to see, who is this person? And they have kids! It’s a mom!”
She also mentioned her least favorite criticism: the length of her sons’ hair. “All of my sons have long hair. It’s not me saying, ‘I’m not going to [let them] cut it.’ I’m going to let them make their own choices. They want it long, great! If they cut it, sure! But saying, ‘Oh, you have to cut your kids’ hair. Boys shouldn’t have long hair.’ Oh, my God, [it’s like the] fifties.”
Family Discussions About Online Bullying
Spelling and McDermott have had many discussions about cyberbullying with their children and how to tune it out. “It is hard to shield them from social media and what they see out there, but they’re really good about it, and they know that people are really mean,” Spelling said in an interview with Us Weekly. “They know when they see something that’s negative – that people can be bullies.”
McDermott said that the kids understand, and even have compassion for the bullies: “[The kids say], ‘That’s awful.’ They always say to me, ‘That person must not feel great about themselves if they have to say that about somebody they don’t even know.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, you’re brilliant and you’re so young.’ It’s awesome.”
McDermott spoke more about these conversations on his podcast Daddy Issues; specifically, one that took place with son Liam after the family was body-shamed at a movie premier. “I said, ‘Look buddy – [there are] some sick people in the world…and they need to say bad things about people. Think about it, son. You have a busy life. You have school, you got sports.”
“Do you think you have time to go on Instagram, scroll through the people that you’re following and make a negative comment about somebody?’” he continued. “I said, ‘No, you don’t. You don’t, and if you did, you’d fill your time with something else. So think about how sick these people are that they have to do that.’”