First David Beckham was digitally chastised for uploading a picture of himself to Instagram of him kissing little Harper on the lips… Now celebrity mum-of-two Olivia Wilde is being painted with the same brush.
Olivia uploaded a sentimental picture of her giving her little boy, Otis, 3, a kiss on the lips during bathtime, captioning the sweet snap: “Finding hope in this [love].”
What followed next was a barrage of online abuse hurled at the 33-year-old.
According to Us Weekly, the hurtful comments began with:
“Gonna give this kid lip aids. . . That’s how kids get lip herpes. From adult lip kisses.”
Another online user wrote: “Kissing your kid like your husband. It’s not good for him.” One more added: “Would it be still appropriate if the genders were switched? Just curious.”
Olivia is yet to respond to the criticism.
Thinking back to Becks, the father-of-four was quick to defend himself when his picture of him kissing his daughter, Harper, on the lips caused people to call the situation “weird… considering her age”.
Taking to Facebook Live at the time of the criticism, the sport dad adamantly retorted: “I got actually criticised for kissing my daughter on the lips the other day. I kiss all my kids on the lips,” he explained of sons Brooklyn, 18, Romeo, 14, Cruz, 12 and five-year-old Harper.
Then there’s Hilary Duff, who came out swinging after she was criticised for sharing a picture of her kissing her little boy, Luca, 4, when the two were visiting Disneyland.
“For anyone commenting that a kiss on the lips with my four year old is ‘inappropriate,’ go ahead and click a quick unfollow with your warped minds and judgment,” she later said post-pic-upload.
To be honest, we stand with Mother & Baby editor Erin Mayo when it comes to the right-or-wrong verdict of the parent-child kiss debate.
“This whole issue has been around in the past, where people have sexualised an innocent, sweet moment between a parent and a child,” she says.
“I think most parents will admit that they still give their four- or five-year-old a kiss on the lips – I know I do. It’s a kiss – there is nothing sexual or wrong about it!”
“It’s a shame that something so innocent and natural has been made out to be something tawdry.”
