Reality TV Star Fights Back After Internet Accuses Her of Drinking While Pregnant

(Instagram/AmyChilds1990)

When it comes to pregnancy and motherhood, everyone on the Internet is an expert and a vigilante. That’s why reality TV star Amy Childs was surprised to find herself shoulders-deep in a “parental responsibility” controversy after she was accused of drinking while pregnant. Then she had to come out and issue a statement assuring everyone that she was not actually drinking alcohol while pregnant, because people just won’t trust pregnant women to take care of themselves on their own.

According to Buzzfeed’s Ellie Woodward, reality TV star Amy Childs was famous as a cast member of The Only Way Is Essex, a long-running “scripted reality” soap opera that’s basically the U.K.’s version of Jersey Shore. She was also a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother and she has 483,000 followers on Instagram. A lot of those people lost their minds at Childs last week after newspaper photos of her surfaced that seemed to show her drinking several glasses of sparkling wine while pregnant.

Childs was getting her hair done at the time, and she had a glass of sparkling wine in her hand. In a couple photos, she even had the bottle in her hand. Commenters rushed to say she was “selfish” if she couldn’t even give up alcohol for nine months for her baby, and to scold her for putting her fetus at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.

After weathering a barrage of insults and mom-shaming, Childs actually went on Instagram to tell everyone that she was actually drinking non-alcoholic Prosecco.

So it seems I’ve been criticised following a set of photos which surfaced yesterday. I’m pretty hurt that people would think I am the sort of person who would put my baby at risk. Under no circumstances would I ever do that. Being a mum is something I’ve dreamt of for so long and I wouldn’t ruin it for an act of selfishness. The pictures you are all referring to have been taken way out of context. I’m a girl that loves a glass of fizz, but since finding out I was pregnant I’ve not gone near a drop of alcohol. Instead, I’ve found a non-alcholic version of my favourite drink (prosecco) @scavirayuk which means I can still enjoy myself and have a chat with my friends over a drink! I hope this clears it up for anyone that was doubting me. I will always put my baby first.

A post shared by Amy Childs (@amychilds1990) on Mar 30, 2017 at 3:22am PDT

“I’m pretty hurt that people would htink I am the sort of person who would put my baby at risk. Under no circumstances would I ever do that,” she wrote, alongside a photo of the bottle that is clearly marked Alcohol Free.

People could have assumed that Childs knows she’s pregnant and can take care of herself and buy things like sparkling cider and non-alcoholic sparkling wine, but apparently it’s a lot more fun to call a woman an irresponsible alcoholic on the Internet.

If anything in life is reliable, it’s that people love to police celebrity mothers on the Internet, and some conspiracy theorists have even suggested the possibility that this whole thing was staged, and that Childs intentionally set herself up to be photographed drinking what looked like sparkling wine specifically because she knew it would set off a huge torrent of angry comments and Daily Mail stories about her drinking while pregnant. That would set her up to promote her “favorite” brand of non-alcoholic Prosecco. That seems a bit outlandish, but also completely feasible. If it’s true, Childs may have found a way to monetize mom-shaming. I wish I’d thought of it first.