Kelly Clarkson on Coping With Mommy Shamers
The Comparison of Apples and Oranges That Helped Kelly Clarkson Get Over Mommy-Shamers
Kelly Clarkson may have made her debut into fame on the early days of American Idol, but now she has a different role catapulting her into the spotlight and that's motherhood. The 35-year-old mom-of-two has seen it all: the dark side of mommy-shamers, the importance of raising strong girls, and the true power of a glass of wine. Now, she's opening up about how she developed the level of confidence she radiates today as a parent. When you're a celebrity mom and people are trolling your every move on social media, it's nearly impossible to not take it personally, but Kelly explained why she's accepted that there will always be haters.
During a panel hosted by the Today Parenting Team, Kelly discussed how she found that level of confidence, and it's something anyone who's dealt with the downside of mommy-shaming can benefit from. "I was talking to Hoda about an interview she did with me, 12 years ago, and you could tell I was on the defense in every answer, because people are just constantly on you and I couldn't do anything right," Kelly said. "And I think honestly at some point you just go, 'Well, screw it.' Like, 'I'm going to live my life over here and you can live yours over there and we'll be fine.' It's just that point where I think I got out of my own way, because it is about you."
She added: "I think we give people that power to make us feel demeaned or powerless. So for me personally, it was getting out of my own egocentric way, getting rid of my pride and going, 'You know what, some people don't like oranges, maybe they like apples. So maybe they're not for me, they don't like me, and that's fine.' People are going to be hateful, you can't control that. You're not going to win that fight, if someone wants to be ugly, so just smile and say 'God bless.'"
The first time Kelly really understood the degree of mommy-shaming was after a Nutella incident. After posting a video of her then 2-year-old daughter River Rose enjoying a piece of toast coated with the hazelnut cocoa spread for the first time, people immediately flooded her comments on Instagram informing her of the sugar-packed ingredients in Nutella. However, instead of responding kindly, users wrote things like, "Giving food like this to a child is 'child abuse.'" Lovely.
She reflected on the incident again during the interview, admitting that she didn't know about the comments for almost a week. "My kid had Nutella on toast and you would've thought I literally fed my kid cancer," she said. "I didn't even know it was happening for five days, and my mother-in-law was like 'So, the Nutella thing.' And I was like, 'It's good. What are we talking about?' I had no idea, and she informed me that the world hated me and thought I was going to kill my child. I was like, 'What?! I didn't give her rat poison.'"
Host Sheinelle Jones advised Kelly to keep it all in perspective because at the end of the day, there are always going to be trolls, so we need to live our lives and just be the best parent we can be. Cheers to that!
